Air Strike Hits Ethiopia’s Northern Tigray Region Capital

FILE: People are seen in front of clouds of black smoke from fires in the aftermath of an airstrike in Mekele, the capital of the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on October 20, 2021. AP

An air strike hit the capital of Ethiopia's northern Tigray region on Tuesday, an official at a hospital said.

The air strike happened days after Tigray's regional government said it was ready for a ceasefire and would accept an African Union-led peace process in its war with the central government that erupted in November 2020. read more

Kibrom Gebreselassie, the chief executive officer of Mekelle's Ayder Hospital, said the hospital had received one wounded person, Reuters reported.

Getachew Reda, spokesperson for the Tigray regional government, confirmed the incident, saying Mekelle University's business campus had been hit.

Gebreselassie said the person who brought the wounded person to the hospital said the strike hit the business campus and Dimitsi Woyane TV station, which the regional Tigray government runs.

Ethiopian military spokesperson Colonel Getnet Adane and government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Tigrayan forces have accused Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of centralizing power at the expense of Ethiopia's regions, which Abiy has denied.

Abiy has accused the Tigrayan forces - led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) which used to dominate national politics - of trying to reclaim power, which they have denied.