Scores die in Ethiopia oil attack
Rebel gunmen have killed at least 74 people in an attack on an oil field in Ethiopia's remote Somali region, the Ethiopian government says.Sixty-five Ethiopians and nine Chinese oil workers were killed, while seven Chinese were also taken captive in the incident, an official said.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi called it a cold-blooded "massacre".
A spokesman for a separatist group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, said it had launched the attack.
The clashes took place at an oil field in Abole, a small town about 120km (75 miles) from the regional capital, Jijiga.
"Something of a massacre has happened," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said.
"It was a cold-blooded murder, we are pursuing the perpetrators and will see to it that it doesn't happen again."
An adviser to the prime minister, Berekat Simon, blamed the ONLF, which he said had the backing of the Eritrean government.
A spokesman for the ONLF in London, Abdirahman Mahdi, said Ethiopian troops had been forcing nomadic tribes to leave their traditional grazing areas.
"Because of that we had to take action," he said.
"We have warned the Chinese government and the Ethiopian government that... they don't have a right to drill there," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"Unfortunately nobody heeds our warning and we have to defend our territorial integrity."
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