Paris AFP (in English) 1549 GMT

Mogadishu — The Ethiopian Al-Itihad Al-Islam guerrilla group claimed Saturday [10 August] to have recaptured the Somali border town of Luuq from Ethiopian troops, killing 150 Ethiopian soldiers for the loss of 17 guerrillas.

A statement issued by the guerrillas in Mogadishu, which could not be independently confirmed, said the bodies of Ethiopian troops were lying in the streets of Luuq, one of a string of Somali border towns which Al-Itihad had been using as bases for attacks in Ethiopia.

The fundamentalist group is fighting for the independence of Ethiopia’s Ogaden region, inhabited largely by ethnic Somalis.

The guerrillas claimed to have destroyed one helicopter gunship, one M62 tanks, and six armoured cars, and said they had regained control of the area following a massive Ethiopian attack on Friday.

The statement made no mention of an Ethiopian attack Saturday – reported by clan militias using field radios – on bases in Somalia’s Galgudud region north of Luuq.

_{FBIS-AFR-96-156, 12 Aug. 1996, pp. 12-13}