Ethiopia said Wednesday that five tourists killed in an attack blamed on terrorists in the northeast were all European, and that two other foreigners in the group had been kidnapped. The government confirmed the attack, first reported by state television late on Tuesday, and blamed terrorists backed by its arch-foe neighbour Eritrea.
“Terrorist groups trained and armed by the Eritrean government crossed the border and attacked them and the assailants have gone back,” government spokesman Bereket Simon told AFP.
“They killed five, wounded two and kidnapped four, out of which two foreigners, one police and one driver,” Bereket Simon said. Eritrea vehemently denied involvement in the attack. Simon earlier said those killed were a German, a Belgian, an Italian, a Hungarian and an Austrian. He did not give the nationalities of those wounded or abducted.
State television said the wounded had been taken to hospital by government forces in the region. The attack occurred Monday in the remote Afar region near Ethiopia’s border with Eritrea. The group was visiting the Erta Ale volcanic site.
