UPDATE - 3 children killed in Monday's Ethiopia airstrikes in Tigray

ADDS UN STATEMENT, TPLF REMARKS

By Andrew Wasike and Addis Getachew

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - The UN said three children were killed in an airstrike by the Ethiopian military in the capital of the Tigray region.

Spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Jens Laerke said that based on health workers' reports from the ground, the airstrike claimed the lives of the three children and left one person severely injured.

Others were injured in a second airstrike in Mekelle on Monday near a busy market and a hotel that is frequented by foreigners and houses international aid workers.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebel group accused the Ethiopian army of targeting civilians in the attack.

On Tuesday, TPLF said that military bombs “killed three innocent children (two brothers), In addition to burning farmers' harvest, the aerial bombardment also killed a number of oxen and cows.”

State-run Ethiopian Press Agency reported the airstrikes targeted a TPLF communication facility “with the utmost precision to prevent civilian casualties,” but there was no mention of fatalities.

- Rebels, witnesses say airstrikes hit market; state media reports TPLF communication facility targeted

Senior TPLF official, Getachew Reda, accused the government of targeting innocent civilians in its bid to wrest control of territory taken by the rebel group.

“[Prime Minister] Abiy Ahmed’s ‘Air Force’ sent its bomber jet to attack civilian targets in and outside Mekelle. Monday is market day in Mekelle and the intention is all too palpable,” he said on Twitter. “While they are losing big in what they dubbed a final offensive against Tigray, they will obviously continue to target civilians in a desperate move to exact revenge on the people of Tigray.”

Getachew, a former communications minister, alleged that one target in the strikes was “the Planet Hotel where a dozen or so humanitarian agencies used to have their employees.”

“Our people won’t be cowed into submission by a desperate move by a desperate regime teetering on the brink of collapse,” he said.

A doctor in Mekelle, who spoke to Anadolu Agency on the condition of anonymity, also confirmed the attack.

“There were a lot of people shopping. People have shared photos of the destruction on social media, too. Over a dozen people were injured but not all were seriously hurt,” he said.

Other witnesses told Anadolu Agency that the targeted area was littered with debris and there were bloodstains splattered on walls and pavements.

The government has yet to issue a statement in response to reports that said children were killed in its offensive.

- ‘Human wave warfare’

The government accused the TPLF of putting civilians on the frontline of the Tigray conflict.

A spokesman warned that the government would be forced to adopt a similar strategy.

“TPLF forces have been deploying human waves to fight their war … and human waves can be defeated by human waves, though primitive,” Legesse Tulu, said at a news conference.

He said the TPLF sends “a swarm of civilians with light weapons and sickles … followed by groups with medium weapons and trailed by mechanized forces.”

Legesse admitted that rebels have captured more areas in Amhara’s South Wollo region, including the historic Wuchale city and are eyeing the commercial towns of Dessie and Kombolcha.

A resident of Dessie, which is 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Wuchale, told Anadolu Agency that the population is confused and fearful.

“We were expecting the army to liberate our town but here we are with the rebels at our doorstep,” said the resident, who requested anonymity. “We don’t know what is really happening,” she said, as she urged swift government action and warned that “Dessie is already heaving with the burden of displaced people.”

Since fighting started last November, the Tigray conflict has internally displaced more than 2 million people in Ethiopia, while tens of thousands have fled to neighboring Sudan.​​​​​​​