Ethiopian forces were forced to withdraw this week from the Tigray regional capital of Mekelle, a spokesman for the Tigrayan forces said on Wednesday, calling Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's statements on the retreat a "lie".
"The fact that he's claiming to have withdrawn from Mekelle is an absolute lie. We bested them in their own game. They lost," Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray People's Liberation Front, told Reuters by satellite phone on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Maggie Fick in Nairobi; Editing by Nick Macfie)
