Agence France-Presse,
Scores of gunmen attacked a Chinese-run oil field in a remote area of Ethiopia on Tuesday, killing nine Chinese and 65 Ethiopians, in a raid claimed by a separatist rebel group.
Seven Chinese workers were also kidnapped in the dawn attack by the Ogaden National Liberation Front, which is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia's eastern Ogaden region.
The ONLF claimed responsibility in a statement on its website in which it said it had completely destroyed the oil facility.
“We urge all international oil companies to refrain from entering into agreements with the Ethiopian government as it is not in effective control of the Ogaden despite the claims it makes,” the statement said.
In a separate email sent to AFP, the group said nearly 400 Ethiopian troops had been wounded or killed in the attack. It blamed “explosions caused by munitions during the battle for the deaths of a handful of Chinese oil workers”.
The group said it was holding six Chinese workers, while Chinese and Ethiopian officials said seven Chinese were being held.
“They have been removed from the battlefield for their own safety and are being treated well,” the ONLF said.
The group, formed in 1984, says that the Ogaden people have been marginalised and brutalised by Ethiopia.
The attack was the first on an Ethiopian oil field since the ONLF issued a threat to foreign companies operating in the eastern region one year ago.
Around 200 unidentified gunmen attacked the oil field in Somali state where China's Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau is searching for oil, according to a company manager quoted by China's official Xinhua news agency.
More than 100 soldiers protecting the field engaged the attackers in a fierce 50-minute gun battle, said the manager, Xu Shuang.
“It is a massacre. It is a terrorist act, ordered by a terrorist alliance that includes ONLF,” said the Ethiopian prime minister's spokesman Berekat Simon.
In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said: “The Chinese government strongly condemns this atrocious armed attack,” according to the official Xinhua news agency.
He added that Beijing had asked Ethiopia to take concrete and effective measures to ensure the safety of Chinese workers in the country.
Ethiopian Prime Minster Meles Zenawi also condemned the slayings.
“It is an outrage,” he said at a news conference. “I can assure you that those responsible for this act will pay in full for what they did.”
Ethiopia's federal police spokesman, Demsash Hailu, told AFP that his forces were fully investigating the situation.
A government spokesman said some Ethiopians may also have been kidnapped during the assault on the oil field at Abole, a small town about 120 kilometres (75 miles) from the Somali state capital of Jijiga.
Meanwhile, the Chinese oil company chartered a plane to collect the bodies of the nine dead workers, Xinhua said.
The ONLF in April last year warned all foreign firms against working in the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia and specifically mentioned two Indian energy companies that had expressed interest in working there.
In May 2006, the ONLF claimed the government had deployed troops to the region ahead of a planned seismic survey by China's Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau and Malaysian oil giant Petronas.
Tuesday's attack echoed a spate of kidnappings in recent months that have plagued Chinese workers in Nigeria, where Beijing is also aggressively seeking to develop the nation's oil reserves.
