At least one building at the military airbase three miles from the city centre was totally destroyed, but Eritrean officials said the airstrip had not been damaged.

But a senior Eritrean official yesterday dismissed Ethiopian claims of successes on the western front at the town of Shambuko.

But Eritrean officials said the area was theirs.

The fighting continued into the late afternoon, but by nightfall the guns were silent, Eritrean officials said.

Although he said that Ethiopia had no designs on Eritrean land, Eritrean officials cast the fighting as an outright invasion.

The Eritrean officials also said they were expecting a new influx of prisoners from coming battles and did not want to tie up their fighters as prison guards.

But an Eritrean official dismissed the accusation as baseless.

Eritrean officials point out that their country, founded in 1993, is the newest in Africa.

Eritrean officials also charge that local Ethiopian authorities have been trying illegally to extend their jurisdictions north into Eritrean territory for several years.

An Eritrean official dismissed the accusation and said it was common practice for the Ethiopian government to blame his country for anything happening in Ethiopia.