Ethiopian soldiers and pro-government Somali forces closed in on a key town in southwest Somalia Thursday, battling al-Qaida allied Shebab insurgents, official and witnesses said.

Heavily armed troops advanced towards the town of Hudur, capital of the Shebab-controlled Bakool region, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) from the Ethiopian border.

Eritrea will not retaliate after rival neighbor Ethiopia attacked its territory, dismissing charges it harbors armed groups against Addis Ababa as a "base and bogus lie."

"It is those who do not know the price of war who are hungry to go to war," Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu told AFP by telephone.

Ethiopia attacked an Eritrean military base on Thursday over the killing five European tourists on its territory earlier this year, accusing its neighbor of training "hit-and-run terrorists".

Government spokesman Shimeles Kemal also threatened further attacks against its neighbor so long as it posed a threat to its security and warned Eritrea against any retaliation.

An Ethiopian domestic worker, who was caught on tape being beaten by a man outside her country’s general consulate, has committed suicide at a psychiatric hospital.

The National News Agency said Wednesday that a consulate representative was at a police station in Beirut checking on how to file a lawsuit against the owner of the woman’s employment agency, when Antelias police said Alem Dechasa, 33, hanged herself using her bed sheets.

Ethiopian rebels said Tuesday they had released two German tourists held hostage since January 18 after a gun battle that killed five other backpackers in the remote Afar desert region.

The two were handed over to German embassy officials and local elders in the desolate northern Ethiopian region on Monday, the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF) said in a statement.

The walls of the former Shebab base in Baidoa, Somalia, are littered with rudimentary drawings of machine guns and tanks, a note reading "Fear God, don't write on these walls" and a sketch of an al-Qaida flag, homage to the rebel group's international allies.

The crumbling building is now occupied by Ethiopian troops who nearly two weeks ago forced Shebab rebels out of Baidoa, their former Shebab stronghold and Somalia's third-largest city. It is the second time Ethiopia has occupied Baidoa after pulling out of Somalia in 2009 following a bloody two-year war.

Truckloads of Ethiopian and Somali troops on Wednesday captured the strategic Somali city of Baidoa from Al-Qaida-allied Shebab insurgents, who vowed to avenge the loss.

"We have taken control of Baidoa without a single shot, it is a great day for the people who are now welcoming us warmly," said Muhidin Ali, a Somali government military commander in Baidoa.

Two days of fresh fighting in Sudan's Blue Nile state have left "heavy losses" among rebel troops, the army said on Saturday, without giving casualty figures for either side.

The combat occurred west of Dindiro, some 100 kilometers southwest of the state capital of Ed Damazin, said Sudanese army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad.

Sudan and South Sudan's presidents met for talks Friday hosted by an East African peace bloc, to resolve an oil dispute between the two former foes that is threatening fresh violence.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and the former rebel turned South Sudanese President Salva Kiir met in the Ethiopian capital, a week after the South ordered a production shutdown, accusing Khartoum of stealing its oil.

An Islamist suicide bomber from the al-Qaida linked Shebab blew himself up Tuesday at an Ethiopian army base inside the central Somali town of Beledweyne, officials and insurgents said Tuesday.

"There was a heavy explosion that shook the whole the city, it occurred at a base where Ethiopian forces are stationed," local security official Mohamed Osman told Agence France Presse.