UPDATE - Ethiopia carries out multiple airstrikes on Tigray rebel forces

ADDS MORE REMARKS BY GOVERNMENT; CHANGES DECK, LEDE

By Seleshi Tessema and Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) - Ethiopian jets hit Tigray rebels in the country's north with airstrikes on Wednesday for the second time this week, the government announced.

The strikes against forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in Mekele, the capital of Ethiopia's northernmost region of Tigray, were "aimed at facilities that the TPLF have turned into armament construction and repair sites," the government's communications service told Anadolu Agency.

Authorities also said that air force jets had conducted surgical airstrikes on a rebel military training center situated 80 kilometers (approximately 50 miles) outside Mekele.

"The air force attacked the military training center called Agbe that lies between the Hagere Selam and Abi Adi areas," said the Communications Authority.

It added: "The training camp is one that serves as a training and organizing the TPLF fighting forces and arms depo."

A TPLF spokesperson said a separate strike on Monday had targeted civilians as it came on market day and that three civilians were killed -- claims Ethiopia 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, two million people were displaced internally due to the fighting, while tens of thousands fled to neighboring Sudan.