Sudan accuses Ethiopia of executing Sudanese soldiers, a civilian

(Reuters) -Sudan accused Ethiopia's army of capturing and executing seven Sudanese soldiers and a civilian, though a senior Ethiopian official denied that any such incident had taken place.

Skirmishes between the neighbouring countries have erupted in recent years over the contested and fertile al-Fashqa border region.

Sudan's foreign ministry said on Monday the men had been seized on Sudanese territory on June 22 and taken into Ethiopia where they were killed.

The ministry said it was summoning the Ethiopian ambassador in Khartoum, calling its own ambassador back from Addis Ababa for discussions, and preparing a formal complaint to the U.N. Security Council.

Sudan's army late on Sunday accused Ethiopia of displaying the bodies in public. "This treacherous act will not pass without a response," the military said in a statement.

Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The senior Ethiopian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to talk to the media, said the incident had not taken place. "What they said is full of lies," the official said.

Tensions have been particularly high in recent years due to Ethiopia's construction of a hydropower dam on the Blue Nile, which Sudan and Egypt fear could affect their main water supply.

A conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region has also sent tens of thousands of refugees over the border into eastern Sudan.

(Reporting by Moataz Mohamed and Khalid Abdelaziz; additional reporting by Addis Ababa bureau; Writing by Nafisa Eltahir and Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Andrew Heavens)