Rebel authorities on Tuesday accused the Ethiopian government of carrying out deadly drone strikes in southern Tigray state and condemned the move as "a serious escalation", amid fears of a new war.
In a statement sent to French news agency AFP on Tuesday, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) said the strikes targeted Tigrayan troops "causing human casualties", without providing further details.
"There was a drone strike carried out by the Ethiopian government yesterday [Monday] in Merewa," in southern Tigray near the border with the Amhara region, Amanuel Assefa, a TPLF official, told AFP.
A spokesperson for the federal army has not yet responded to AFP's request for comment regarding the accusations.
Amanuel also claimed that the strikes hit a school, which AFP was unable to independently verify.
For several months, federal and Tigrayan forces have gathered on either side of the border of Ethiopia's northernmost regional state, with the two sides accusing each other of seeking to trigger a new conflict.
Displaced population
On 1 August, fighting pitted federal forces against TPLF troops in northwestern Tigray, near the border with Sudan, according to the TPLF.
The federal government has not commented on the matter.
Tigray, home to around 6 million people, emerged in 2022 from a two-year war between TPLF forces and the federal army, supported by local militias and the Eritrean army.
The conflict claimed at least 600,000 lives, according to an African Union estimate.
A peace agreement signed in November 2022 put an end to the fighting, but several key points, such as the return of displaced people or the disarmament of the TPLF, have never been implemented.
(with AFP)
