Ethiopia predicted yesterday that its two-year war with Eritrea would be over within days following the capture of key positions along the central front.
Ethiopian troops carried out a dawn attack on the heavily defended Zalambessa area. By the afternoon the government in Addis Ababa claimed its forces had seized the main Eritrean command posts.
"The Eritreans are losing. Our forces are pressing ahead, scoring victories along that front line in most strategic places," the Foreign Minister, Mr Seyoum Mesfin, told a press conference.
The Prime Minister, Mr Meles Zenawi, said the victory meant "we might see an end to the war in the coming few days".
The Eritrean government did not confirm the loss of the command posts. However, Ethiopian claims have been reliable since the offensive started.
Eritrea invaded Zalambessa at the start of hostilities and its loss would be a potentially fatal blow to the Prime Minister, Mr Issias Afwerki, who has already suffered major losses of territory. Ethiopia is now estimated to control almost half of Eritrea and has at least 100,000 troops in the country.
If the Ethiopians continue their advance they will have to push through miles of rough mountainous terrain in what could be some of the bloodiest fighting of the war.
Mr Mesfin denied that the offensive constituted an invasion. "Ethiopia has no ambition of either partly or fully annexing Eritrea," the foreign minister said. "Our objective is to defend our territory. Once we achieve that we will return every square metre [that is not ours]."
He said Ethiopia was willing to return to peace talks immediately but would not halt its assault until Eritrean troops were routed from all disputed areas.
Outstanding border issues would eventually have to be settled around a "peace table", Mr Mesfin said, but he refused to speculate on whether this might involve United Nations peacekeeping troops.
Yesterday's offensive surprised military observers who had anticipated an attack from the west instead of from the south. But Ethiopia has used both surprise tactics and its superior air firepower to great advantage in the war.
If victory at Zalambessa is confirmed the only outstanding disputed territory would be at Bure, along its south-eastern section of the 620-mile border.
AFP adds from Asmara:
A ceasefire must come before any resumption of peace talks with Ethiopia, Eritrea said yesterday, reacting to indications to the contrary by a EU envoy.
Presidential spokesman Mr Yemane Ghebremeskel said his government was willing to resume peace talks, provided a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire - which he said did not count as a "precondition" - was respected by both parties. "On the basis of the Security Council Resolution (passed on May 17)," we are ready, he said.
Speaking earlier yesterday in Addis Ababa before flying to Asmara, the EU envoy, Mr Rino Serri, said his understanding was that the Eritreans would return to the talks without preconditions.
One reason talks broke down in Algiers on May 5th was that Eritrea insisted that Ethiopia had not only to agree to a ceasefire but also to sign two texts of an OAU peace initiative before a third, more technical text, could be discussed. Ethiopia refused, and each side accused the other of scuppering the peace process.
Ethiopia also announced yesterday that its troops had made "major advances" in a new offensive around Zala Anbesa, a town in the ill-defined border region some 100 km south of Asmara and one of the areas Addis Ababa accuses Eritrea of having invaded in 1998.
A senior official in Eritrea denied the claim of advances and said "heavy fighting" was continuing in the area.