Ethiopia carries out more airstrikes on Tigray rebel forces

By Seleshi Tessema and Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) - For the second time since Monday, the Ethiopian Air Force carried out strikes on Tigray rebels in the country’s northernmost regional capital, the government said Wednesday.

The airstrikes in Meleke, the Tigray region’s capital, against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), were “aimed at facilities that the TPLF have turned into armament construction and repair sites,” the government communications service told Anadolu Agency.

A TPLF spokesperson claimed that Monday’s attack targeted civilians as it came on market day, and that three civilians had been killed, claims Ethiopia categorically denies.

The armed conflict in the Tigray state began last November when TPLF forces attacked the northern command of Ethiopian forces stationed in the Tigray state.

According to the UN, 2 million people were displaced internally due to the fighting, while tens of thousands fled to neighboring Sudan.