Ethiopia and Sudan have continued to trade accusations over a border dispute as tensions between the two East African neighbours escalate.

Ethiopia’s foreign ministry says Sudanese armed forces have pushed into Ethiopian territory, occupying farms and looting properties.

The ministry’s spokesperson, Dina Mufti, said the incursion had inflamed the border conflict despite ongoing talks to settle the issue peacefully.

But in a separate statement, Sudan condemned what it termed as aggression by Ethiopia’s militias in the al-Quraysha region in the east.

Sudan’s foreign ministry asked the international community to intervene and condemn the attacks by armed groups it says are from Ethiopia’s Amhara region.

The two countries share a 750km (466-mile) border and conflicts have been common over the decades particularly along the al-Fashaga area.

This week, the Sudanese authorities said that six civilians, including women and a child, were killed after Ethiopian forces launched an attack in the area.

Skirmishes between the two sides have intensified since late last year, killing dozens of civilians and soldiers and forcing thousands more from their homes.

Talks to end the conflict, including meetings between the Ethiopian and Sudanese prime ministers, have so far failed to resolve the crisis.

The two countries are also separately involved in three-way talks with Egypt over the future of Africa’s biggest hydropower dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, being built along the River Nile.

Latest round of talks being mediated by the African Union collapsed on Sunday with no agreement.