THE resumption of hostilities on Friday in the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea involved the biggest battle fought for a year, a senior Eritrean official said. This latest outbreak in fighting, the first serious battle since last June, followed the failure of a UN Security Council delegation to convince the warring sides to resume indirect talks that collapsed in Algiers last week. “This is very large-scale fighting. It is the biggest battle since the fighting last year, with heavy fighting continuing,” said top presidential adviser Yemane Gebreab. The presidential adviser, who heads the political section of Eritrea’s ruling party, said Eritrean troops are in their defensive positions, and that they have not been redeployed as a result of the Ethiopian attack. No casualty figures or troop numbers were given, as is the custom of the Eritrean army.