Filed at 5:58 p.m. EDT
By The Associated Press

ZALA AMBESSA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Eritrean and Ethiopian troops pummeled each other with shell and rocket fire along their disputed border Tuesday, while diplomats and hundreds of frightened foreigners fled the Eritrean capital.

Advancing up a steep mountain along their shared border, the Eritrean army pushed between five and eight miles into Ethiopian territory. Dozens of Eritrean troops were wounded in fierce fighting, and some were evacuated in slings improvised from bedsheets and tree branches.

It was not immediately clear how many casualties the Ethiopian side suffered.

In the Eritrean capital of Asmara, 65 miles to the northwest, German and Russian diplomats boarded evacuation flights after closing their embassies.

A U.S.-chartered plane left for Cairo, Egypt, with 50 diplomats and dependents, 120 naturalized Americans born in Eritrea, and 80 other foreigners.

``This is the one chance I've got to get out. If I don't take it, I'm afraid I'll be trapped here,'' said Gabriel Ephrem, an Eritrean from San Diego.

Also aboard were a handful of Ethiopian diplomats, ordered out by Eritrea in retaliation for the expulsion of its diplomats from Addis Ababa last week. Two diplomats remain in each capital.

The Israeli and Danish governments last week closed their diplomatic missions, fearing more bombardments by Ethiopian warplanes, which struck Asmara's airport Friday and Saturday. Ten embassies remained open.

The two Horn of African nations, which earlier this decade were part of the same country, are battling over several patches of border land. Lingering tensions were fanned late last year when Eritrea suddenly declared its own currency.

Now, commercial flights and most ships have stopped coming to Eritrea because Ethiopia has said it cannot guarantee their safety. Eritrea on Tuesday demanded that the international community force Ethiopia to lift its threat.

``World leaders should tell them, `You can fight on the front, but you can't hold the capital hostage,''' said Yemane Gebremeskel, presidential spokesman.

The Eritrean government, he said, welcomed a plan debated by diplomats at an Organization of African Unity summit to send a six-president delegation to mediate the dispute.

In a message sent to the OAU meeting in Burkina Faso, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki renewed his calls for an end to all hostilities, full demilitarization of the border, and direct talks between Eritrea and Ethiopia with high-level mediators.

In a terse statement, Ethiopia refused direct negotiations.

``We have made it clear since the beginning, unless they withdraw from areas they have occupied, we cannot sit down for any talks, direct or indirect,'' said Ethiopian spokesman Taddesse.

Eritrea, an Italian colony from 1885 to 1941, claims its forces are within internationally recognized borders drawn by Italy in the late 19th century. Eritrea was annexed in 1962 by Ethiopia, against whom it later fought a 30-year war for independence.

The United States and Rwanda have crafted a peace proposal that would require Eritrea to withdraw to positions it occupied prior to May 6, when border skirmishes broke out. Ethiopia has accepted the plan, but Eritrea says it is too sketchy.