NAIROBI, Kenya -- Ethiopian fighter bombers destroyed a high school, shops and homes in raids Monday against two Somali border towns, killing at least 40 people -- mostly students -- and wounding 80 others, Somalia said.
The raids against Borama and Goroyo-Awl, 5 miles from the disputed Ogaden region, were the worst flareup in the simmering war between the east African nations since an abortive Ethiopian invasion of central Somalia last July.
The Radio Mogadishu broadcast, monitored in Nairobi, quoted 'an emergency announcement' by the Somali Defense Ministry as saying that six Soviet-made MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighter bombers leveled a high school, shops and civilian homes in the dusty border towns during the 20-minute bombing runs.
'The latest reports received until now say that 40 people were killed and 80 others injured,' the ministry said.
There was no immediate confirmation of the Somali claims from the Marxist regime of Ethiopian leader Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam, but diplomats said similiar 'emergency announcements' in the past were usually correct.
Diplomats familiar with the Horn of Africa region said the air attacks could be in retaliation for guerrilla raids this month on the vital railroad linking the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa with the Red Sea port of Djibouti.
The rail line, which carries 60 percent of Ethiopia's exports, has been closed since Jan. 21 after attacks on a passenger and a freight train that left at least 29 people dead.
A Somali-based guerrilla group, called the Western Somali Liberation Front, has claimed responsibility for the train attacks.
The Somali Defense Ministry said the Ethiopian aircraft struck in mid-morning, hammering the small border towns where nomads in the desert region come to get water.
The statement said most of the killed and injured were students at the Borama regional high school.
The aircraft then flew to Goroyo-Awl but were driven off by Somali air defenses. Damage at Goroyo-Awl was described by the ministry as light.
Tension between the two nations has been high since the 1977 Somali invasion of Ethiopia. With the help of Cuban troops Ethiopia drove the invaders out of Ogaden.
In July 1982, Ethiopian troops and anti-Somali rebels struck across the border and advanced close to 60 miles inside Somalia before being driven back.
The United States supplied Somalia with $15 million in emergency military aid to fend off the Ethiopian advance.
Last July, the Ethiopians struck again but their offensive stalled after less than a week. The Ethiopians still occupy at least two small border villages inside central Somalia.
Somalia, which claims the Ethiopian-controlled Ogaden desert as its own because of its ethnic Somali population, has offered to negotiate a peace settlement but only if Ethiopian forces withdraw from occupied Somalia.
