Even as Prime Minister Abiomed sought to reassure the world that his country was not sliding into civil war, Abbey launched a military offensive integrate after accusing regional forces of attacking a federal military base in the town of Dan Hsia there on Monday, gold miner Mesereau Zain Abu recalled hearing the attack.

On that day we could hear a lot of gunfire.

The whole village panicked Thanks the Amhara Regional Special Forces and the militiamen.

They were able to save a lot of lives of the National defense Forces.

Through a senior diplomat said Abby had fallen back on support from Ti Grace.

Neighboring am horror off the parts of the military's northern command went over to T grain control.

Reuters journalists traveling in Tigre and Um Horror saw trucks packed with armed militia and pickups with mounted machine guns rushing to the front line in support of the federal government.

Military officials said clashes near the Tigre Am horror border had killed nearly 500 T grain fighters.

Three security sources said the Ethiopian army had also lost hundreds in the original battle in dancer Tigranes dominated Ethiopian politics before Abby came to power after rebels from the ethnic group toppled Marxist military rule in 1991.

That guerrilla conflict under war with neighboring Eritrea have left the region's forces battle hardened, including militia allies.

They number up to 250,000 possessed significant hardware, according to experts.

Theo conflict threatens to destabilize Africa's second most populous nation, But on Monday Abby sought to ease concerns tweeting that our rule of law operation is aimed at guaranteeing peace on stability.