Airstrike in Tigray Capital, Mekelle, as Fighting Spreads
Authorities in
Ethiopia’s Tigray region have reported a fresh air strike in the capital,
Mekelle, that they say hit near a hospital and a center for displaced people.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s federal government said in a statement that fighting has
spread to the west of Tigray, near the border with Sudan.
Kibrom Gebreselassie,
the chief clinical director at Mekelle’s Ayder Referral Hospital, said on Twitter
that there was a drone attack "close to midnight” Wednesday near Mekelle
General Hospital.
He said casualties were
arriving at Ayder Hospital, without giving details.
Meanwhile, Getachew
Reda, a spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, said on
Twitter that at least three bombs were dropped on Mekelle, with Mekelle
Hospital being among the targets.
He said there were "no
conceivable military targets” in the area where the attack took place.
Due to a
telecommunications blackout in Tigray, it was impossible for VOA to confirm the
accounts or learn the extent of the casualties.
On Wednesday morning,
the Ethiopian government issued a statement saying the TPLF had invaded the
Amhara Region, near the border with neighboring Sudan.
Reda denied the
allegation, saying the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is "making up
stories.”
A five-month cease-fire
in Ethiopia’s civil war came to an end last week, dashing hopes for peace
talks. Each side has blamed the other for the renewed fighting.
Meanwhile, Sudan’s
government has summoned Ethiopia’s ambassador to Khartoum over an assertion he
made that the Ethiopian military shot down a plane carrying weapons from
Sudanese airspace. Sudan says the allegation was unfounded.
VOA
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