20101109
reuters

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - An Ethiopian rebel group said on Tuesday it had killed 267 soldiers since the beginning of October, in its first such claim since the government signed a peace deal with one its factions last month.

The Ethiopian government denied the claim.

The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) wants more autonomy for the country's mainly ethnic-Somali Ogaden region and has warned foreign companies exploring for oil and gas to stay away or face attack.

Firms, including Petronas and Vancouver-based Africa Oil Corporation, are working in the Ogaden. Petronas has asked for government approval of a deal to sell all its oil and gas concessions to locally-owned SouthWest Energy (H.K.) Ltd.

Commercial amounts of oil and gas have not yet been extracted.

"The ONLF army is continuing its offensive against Ethiopian Army troops in the Ogaden," the faction led by former Somali navy chief Admiral Mohamed Omar Osman said in a statement, detailing dates and places of attack.

"During the months of October and the beginning of November it has conducted 34 tactical and strategic military operations, killing 267 Ethiopian Army soldiers and wounding 157."