ETHIOPIAN troops killed, wounded or captured more than 21000 Eritrean soldiers between June 9 and 13 in battles along the border between the two Horn of Africa states, the Addis Ababa government claimed on Wednesday. Asmara claimed earlier that “the total number of Ethiopian troops put out of action in five days of intense fighting reached over 18000” between Monday and Thursday. “Ethiopia has also lost two Mig-23 jet fighters, one Mi-35 helicopter gunship and five tanks destroyed in the previous days of fighting” on the western front of the border,” an Eritrean foreign ministry statement said. There has been no independent confirmation of the casualty figures claimed by either side, neither of which has released details of its own losses.