AT least 20 Sudanese troops have reportedly died following clashes with Ethiopian forces on the countries’ shared border.

Sudanese soldiers fell into an ambush Saturday after traveling across the Atbara river and being bombarded, Bloomberg reported, citing Alrasheed Ali, a member of the border commission of Sudan’s southeastern Gadaref state.

Sudanese forces are now accumulating on the riverbank and “the situation is very tense,” Ali told Bloomberg by phone Sunday. He did not, however, reveal any information about fatalities among Ethiopians.

Sudan’s army released a statement reporting that it delivered “heavy losses of life” against Ethiopian troops and militias who assaulted them.

The Sudanese army also said it saw fatalities, but did not disclose how many.

The deadly clashes occurred after more than a year of conflict in al-Fashqa, an area that touches both Sudan and Ethiopia and produces cotton and sorghum.

The patch of land is seen as a potentially explosive area amid simmering conflict between the countries. Sudan and Ethiopia are already fighting over the latter’s intention to run a large hydroelectric dam on the main side stream of the Nile River.

(SD-Agencies)