Tigray Rebels in Ethiopia Accuse Government of Launching Air Strike on Regional Center

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ethiopia's northern Tigray region was hit by an airstrike on Tuesday morning, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) said.

"[Ethiopian Prime Minister] Abiy Ahmed’s drones targeted Mekelle University Adi Haki campus," Getachew Reda, a spokesperson for the TPLF, a paramilitary group designated terrorist by the Ethiopian authorities, tweeted on Tuesday.

An official at a local hospital also confirmed the airstrikes.

"Today an early morning drone attack in Mekelle. One injured patient has arrived at Ayder. Total casualties not yet known," Kibrom Gebreselassie, a senior official at Tigray’s Ayder hospital, said on Twitter.

There has been no official information from government officials about the incident yet.

Last week, the TPLF agreed to a ceasefire and the start of peace talks with the Ethiopian government under the auspices of the African Union.

Ethiopia has been struggling with a violent internal conflict since November 2020, when the central government accused the TPLF of attacking its military base and launched an anti-terrorist operation in the region. In June 2021, the rebels of the TPLF seized the city of Mekelle, the administrative regional center, and the government declared an unconditional ceasefire.

Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces (File)

© AP Photo / Hussein Malla

owever, the rebels launched a new offensive soon after and took control of the southern part of Tigray and the neighboring Amhara region. The ongoing conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced millions of people, and caused a dire humanitarian crisis across the country.

A new truce was reached in March 2022, when the Ethiopian authorities announced the introduction of an indefinite humanitarian truce for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Tigray. In June, Ethiopian Prime Minister announced the creation of a committee for negotiations with the TPLF.