The daily Alwan quoted a communique it received from the movement as saying the killings took place in the areas of Shinkolit, Adidab and Garora in "military confrontations with Eritrean forces" from Friday, March 26.

It said Afewerki provoked the fighting.

"Afewerki sent a brigade of his forces, backed up by tanks, heavy artillery and advanced armed personnel carriers to positions of the mujahideen (Islamic warriors) in the northern coast through six axes to start the battles," the movement said.

It said the battles ended with the defeat of government troops who were forced to withdraw and flee.

The movement said it destroyed two vehicles but lost 11 "martyrs" and sustained 15 injuries.

The private Amharic language weekly, the Reporter, in its Monday's edition, alleged that Egypt was also assisting the war efforts of Eritrea with military intelligence.

It quoted unnamed diplomatic sources in Addis Ababa and Asmara as saying Egypt was providing intelligence through ''military advisers and intelligence personnel'' attached to its embassy in Asmara, and through Col. Amir Bardan, who works as an expert with the OAU conflict management unit in Addis Ababa.

The paper said Bardan had served as intelligence officer with the Egyptian army in the Sinai during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

The weekly said light and medium size weapons, hand grenades, anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines captured from Eritrean forces during recent fighting bear Egyptian identifications.

The weapons, with ''made in Egypt'' marks, were purchased with war assistance provided by Libya to Eritrea, the paper alleged.

It further quoted diplomatic sources as saying ''a number of Egyptian nationals have been seen in Eritrea moving around in 500 WAZ military vehicles.''

The ambassador admitted that Egypt produces the said military weapons, including artillery and tanks, but not landmines.

''These weapons are sold in the open market and may have reached Eritrea through a third party,'' he told the paper in the same edition. ''We do not have agreement with Eritrea for the sale of military weapons.''

The envoy also denied that Cairo was providing intelligence information to Eritrea.

Regarding the Egyptian officer attached to the OAU, he stressed that ''such an arrangement is not unique.''

''Other member states also have similar arrangements. We pay his expenses because the OAU is short of funds,'' Badr pointed out.