Ethiopia denies Sudan's accusation it executed Sudanese soldiers, civilian

Sudan's foreign ministry said the men had been seized on Sudanese territory 

Ethiopia on Monday denied Sudan's accusation that its army had captured and executed seven Sudanese soldiers and a civilian, instead blaming the killings on a local militia, Qazet.az reports.

Skirmishes between the neighbouring countries have erupted in recent years over the contested and fertile al-Fashqa border region.

Sudan's foreign ministry said on Monday the men had been seized on Sudanese territory on June 22 and taken into Ethiopia where they were killed.

In a statement on Monday, Ethiopia's foreign ministry said the facts of the incident were misrepresented and that the deaths were a result of a skirmish between Sudanese soldiers, who they said had staged an incursion into Ethiopian land, and a local militia.

The incident would be investigated, it said.