Regional Capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray Reportedly Hit by Airstrikes

Source: Sputnik

October 18, 2021

The situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia has been deteriorating over the past few months, as hostilities reemerged between the central government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Mekele, the capital city of the Tigray region in Ethiopia, was hit by airstrikes on Monday, reports suggest. The broadcaster Tigray Television, controlled by the TPLF, stated that several people were wounded by the strikes.

A civil war erupted in the East African country last year after the Ethiopian government accused the local governing party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, of attacking a regional military base. In response, the party said that Eritrea (which was technically at war with Ethiopia until 2018) had dispatched troops across the border to support the federal government.

The military clashes that followed claimed thousands of lives and forced around a million people in the region to flee their homes.

Initially, government forces managed to seize Mekele, but in June, TPLF militants reclaimed the city. After that, an unconditional ceasefire was imposed in the region, but in October the government forces launched a new ground offensive.