Ethiopia forces accused of deadly attack as Tigray war escalates

 

An air raid killed at least four people, including two children, in the capital of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, the head of a hospital said.

The federal government denied the allegations saying the air force only targeted military sites and accused Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces of staging civilian deaths.

Tigray Television, controlled by the regional authorities, said the attack in Mekelle happened at around 09:40 GMT on Friday and blamed it on the federal government. No other military aircraft are known to operate in Ethiopian airspace.

Federal government spokesperson Legesse Tulu and military spokesperson Colonel Getnet Adane did not respond to queries regarding the air raid, which happened days after fighting resumed between the national government and Tigray forces on the border of the Tigray and Amhara regions.

Kibrom Gebreselassie, chief executive of Ayder Hospital, said the bombing hit a children’s playground. It was not immediately clear if there were any military facilities nearby.

Tigray Television quoted witnesses saying a kindergarten called Red Kids Paradise in the Tigrayan capital was struck in the attack. It aired graphic images of children and adults with dismembered bodies filmed in the aftermath on the ground being attended by medical personnel.

Homes near the kindergarten also were hit in the strike, broadcaster Dimtsi Weyane reported.

Tigrayan officials called the air strike “a heartless, sadistic” assault.

“This vicious regime has outdone itself with today’s deliberate targeting of a children’s building,” they said in a statement.

A humanitarian source in the city confirmed hearing an explosion and anti-aircraft gunfire.

 

For more detail, please click Here

References:

BBC News, CNN News, NDTV , The News, Al-Jazeera, CNBC, Economist, Times of India, Sky sports, New York Time, Sky News, Indianexpress