Press Release
Ethiopian MI-24 Helicopter Gunship Downed

Eritrean air defense units on the Assab front have shot down, at 9:00 a.m. this morning, an Ethiopian MI-24 helicopter gunship that came to strafe the front line. All the crew were killed as the helicopter crashed behind the front line.

Earlier today, the Ethiopian regime bombed sparsely populated civilian areas in the environs of the Assab front with an Antonov 130 bomber plane. The TPLF regime had employed fighter aircraft and helicopter gunships on the Mereb-Setit and Alitena-Mereb fronts in the fighting last Sunday and Monday, thereby unilaterally violating the moratorium on air strikes.

The Assab front line is 71 kms west of the port city of Assab.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara, 14 February 1999