Oct 8 - Drone strikes targeted Eritrean forces deployed inside northern Ethiopia overnight, a conflict monitor said on Thursday, following an incursion that has brought the Horn of Africa neighbours closer to the brink of outright war.

The strikes, believed to have been carried out by Ethiopia's military on Wednesday and Thursday, targeted Eritrean military vehicles near the Tigrayan town of Adigrat as they withdrew from positions, the US-based conflict monitor ACLED said.

On Wednesday, witnesses said they saw Eritrean troops being transported in trucks through Adigrat, which is about 25 km (15 miles) inside Ethiopia.

That was the first confirmation of Eritrean forces’ presence in northern Ethiopia since fighting broke out last month between Ethiopia's military and a rebel alliance.

Eritrea’s information minister Yemane Gebremeskel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. On Wednesday, he called reports of an Eritrean incursion part of an Ethiopian plan to justify a war of aggression against its smaller neighbour. Spokespeople for Ethiopia’s government, military and prime minister’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

In a meeting with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed on Thursday, Ethiopia's foreign minister, Gedion Timothewos, "called for the immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces from Ethiopian territory, and reaffirmed Ethiopia's right to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity in accordance with international law", the foreign affairs ministry said on The two countries severed diplomatic ties last week over Addis Ababa’s allegations that Asmara was supporting the rebels. Eritrea has repeatedly denied the accusation.

BLASTS HEARD NORTH OF ADIGRAT ACLED said the Eritrean soldiers had crossed into Ethiopia on Wednesday and advanced dozens of kilometres into Tigray but then withdrew under heavy drone strikes.

Two sources — a diplomat and a conflict expert in contact with both sides — said they had reports of Eritreans moving back north as a result of heavy bombardment by Ethiopian drones. It was not clear if the Eritreans were leaving Ethiopia or redeploying within the country, they said.

In Adigrat, a resident said they had heard three explosions overnight to the north of the city.

A senior Ethiopian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Eritrea had one mechanized division and three infantry divisions in Tigray consisting of about 1,500 soldiers each. Reuters could not independently verify the information.

SOURING RELATIONS OVER ETHIOPIA'S SEA ACCESS CLAIMS Eritrea accuses landlocked Ethiopia of plotting to invade it, pointing to repeated public declarations by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that sea access is vital to his country’s security and economy. Abiy has said Ethiopia aims to gain sea access peacefully.

The fighting that broke out last month has been the biggest escalation of violence since a 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray and raised fears that unrest could spwidely across the Horn of Africa, where a three-year civil war in Sudan is already raging.

Eritrea, a former province of Ethiopia, won its statehood in 1993 after a 30-year independence struggle. The two countries fought a border war from 1998-2000 that killed tens of thousands.

They normalised diplomatic relations in 2018, and Eritrea fought in support of Ethiopia’s federal government against the TPLF during the 2020-2022 Tigray war, but relations soured again toward the end of that conflict.