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Gunmen 'kill Chinese in Ethiopia' Ethiopia attack 'leaves 74 dead'
(about 1 hour later)
Nine Chinese oil workers have been killed in Ethiopia's remote Ogaden region, Chinese state media reports. Unidentified gunmen have killed at least 74 people in an attack on an oil field in Ethiopia's remote Ogaden region, officials say.
A Chinese oil exploration firm manager told Xinhua news agency seven more Chinese workers had been kidnapped. Nine Chinese oil workers and 65 Ethiopians were killed in the incident early on Tuesday, Chinese and Ethiopian officials said.
Xu Shuang said their base had been attacked by about 200 gunmen. There are also unconfirmed reports that dozens of Ethiopian workers had been killed. The attack took place at an oil field in Abole, a small town about 120km from the state capital, Jijiga.
The attack reportedly happened in Abole, a small town about 120km away from the state capital, Jijiga. A Chinese oil worker said about 200 gunmen attacked the field.
An Ethiopian government spokesman said he could not comment on the reports. Xu Shuang, acting manager of the Chinese company involved, said another seven Chinese workers had been abducted.
Last year the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front warned firms not to invest in the Somali region, reports the AP news agency. The numbers of dead were confirmed by a spokesman for Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Ethiopia is not an oil exporter. "It is a cold blood killing, a massacre. It is a terrorist act," the spokesman, Berekat Simon, told AFP news agency.
But China buys most of the oil being produced by neighbouring Sudan. Fire fight
The workers were employed by the Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau, part of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, China's Xinhua news agency reported.
Gunmen briefly took control of the field after a 50-minute fire fight with soldiers protecting it, Mr Xu told the agency.
In recent years, China has been working to increase its influence and investment in Africa as it looks to secure energy supplies for the future.
No group has yet said it carried out the attack but the area is known for its often violent clan politics, the BBC's Amber Henshaw reports from Addis Ababa.
A separatist group - the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) - has in the past made threats against foreign companies working with the Ethiopian government to exploit the region's natural resources.
The ONLF has been waging a low-level insurgency with the aim of breaking away from Ethiopia.
The incident will also step up tensions in the region which borders Somalia - where there are often clashes between Ethiopian troops and Islamists, our correspondent adds.