The government said it had the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) "on the run", but denied using planes during fighting in the poor and arid region on the border of Ethiopia and Somalia in the Horn of Africa.
An ONLF spokesman said as well as the victims of air raids, 57 more civilians had died in the past 10 days or so of battles.
"This is a big offensive, mostly targeting the population because they cannot beat us," Abdirahman Mahdi, an ONLF founder member and now its UK-based spokesman, told Reuters.
"We hear from our commanders that they carpet-bombed three villages -- Abaaqorow, Dar es Salaam, and Ayun -- with MiG jets last Thursday. About 40 civilians died. Another 57 died in other incidents."
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced a crackdown against the ONLF, one of several guerrilla groups fighting his government from remote corners of the vast nation.
The ONLF drew international attention with an April raid on a Chinese-run oil exploration field that killed 74 people.
That was one of the bloodiest attacks in a sporadic but long-running conflict between government forces and the ONLF, which seeks more autonomy for the underdeveloped region.
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