The battle began Thursday and continued Friday, marking the end of a short lull in their year-long conflict. Eritrean presidential spokesman Yermane Gebremeskel said Ethiopia launched the attack on the ``central section of the Mereb-Setit front'' -- close to the disputed Badme region where the war first broke out in May 1998.

Fighting on three fronts along the 1,000 km (600 mile) frontier has continued intermittently since, killing tens of thousands of soldiers.

Both sides also reported a minor artillery exchange on the southern Burre front, close to Eritrea's Red Sea port of Assab, Thursday.

``Ethiopian forces launched a counter-offensive to repulse the invasions by Eritrea on two fronts,'' Ethiopian government spokeswoman Selome Taddesse told Reuters, adding that Ethiopia used its airforce against Eritrean forces.

There was no independent confirmation of the fighting in the remote border area, which journalists have been unable to visit since February.

With no diplomatic solution to the conflict in sight, military analysts have predicted another large-scale battle before the onset of the rainy season in July.

Eritrea says fighting erupts on Ethiopia border

ASMARA, June 11 (Reuters) - Eritrea accused its neighbour Ethiopia on Friday of launching a major attack on its border, ending a short lull in their year-long conflict.

``There is heavy fighting on the central section of the Mereb-Setit (western) front, in the same place as the fighting a few weeks ago,'' Eritrean presidential adviser Yermane Gebremeskel told Reuters.

``The Ethiopians attacked yesterday morning, the fighting is continuing today,'' he said, without giving details of casualties.

There was no immediate comment from Ethiopia and no independent confirmation of the fighting in the remote border area which journalists have been unable to visit since February.

The two Horn of Africa nations first took up arms over a border disagreement in May last year, and fighting on three fronts along the 1,000 km (600 mile) frontier has continued intermittently since, killing tens of thousands of soldiers.

Yermane told Reuters on Thursday that Ethiopian forces had launched a ``small attack'' on the southern Burre front, 70 km (40 miles) from Eritrea's Red Sea port of Assab.

An official from the Somali National Front (SNF), said his forces took control of Kismayu at 4 p.m. (1400 GMT), after driving out the militia of Mohamed Said Hirsi, known as General Morgan, who had controlled the town since 1993.

Businessman Abdul Ali Osman, contacted in Kismayu by shortwave radio from Mogadishu, confirmed its capture and said that eight civilians were killed and 25 wounded in the fighting.

The SNF's Bood Ali Haji said 20 of Morgan's militiamen were killed, and the remainder had fled towards the Kenya border from the town, which lies 500 km (300 miles) south of the capital.

The town's capture is a victory for leading Somali warlord Hussein Mohamed Aideed, an ally of the SNF, who this week lost control of the strategic town of Baidoa in central Somalia to a militia group backed by Ethiopia.

Ethiopia and Eritrea have stepped up their support for rival Somali factions in recent months -- a spillover from their year-long border war -- further destabilising Somalia which has been without central government since 1991.

Witnesses said a huge shipment of arms for Aideed arrived from Eritrea last month, while on the Ethiopian border, residents say that Ethiopian troops and armoured personnel carriers have poured into Somalia in support of anti-Aideed factions.

Ethiopia believes that groups loyal to Aideed are working to destabilise the border and also accuses Aideed of supporting rebels within Ethiopia.

Heavy battle taking place in Somali port

MOGADISHU, June 11 (AFP) - Heavy fighting erupted Friday in the southern Somali port city of Kismayo, militia and humanitarian sources reported.

Kismayo has been controlled since 1993 by warlord Mohamed Said Hirsi "Morgan," a Marjerten, but it was unclear mid-afternoon if he still controlled the city or if a coalition of rival Marehan and the Habr Gedir of south Mogadishu warlord Hussein Mohamed Aidid had wrested it from him.

No immediate reports of casualties were available.

Kismayo is some 500 kilometres (300 miles) south of Mogadishu, and is the gateway to the fertile Juba valley region.

The Majerten and Marehan have fought sporadic battles in and around Kismayo since April 1997, but General Morgan managed to repulse all attacks to date.

Warlords have ruled Somalia since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 in a bloody civil war.