Ethiopian government: Missile attack on two airports near Tigray

The Ethiopian government said on Saturday that a missile attack took place late yesterday on two airports in Amhara State, which borders the northern Tigray region, where the government is fighting local forces.

A spokesman for Gondar Central said that a missile hit and damaged Gondar Airport, while another missile fell at the same time outside Bahir Dar Airport.

The Ethiopian government accused the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which rules Tigray, of launching the attack.

The government's emergency force said on Twitter: "The Tigray People's Liberation Front is using the last weapons in its arsenals."

"The two airports are legitimate targets," said Debrision Gebramael, leader of the Tigray People's Liberation Front.

"Any airport used to attack Tigray will be a legitimate target, not the Amhara cities," he told Reuters in a text message.

Hundreds of people have been killed in clashes since Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the army to attack local forces in Tigray on November 4, after he accused them of attacking a federal military base in the region.

An Ethiopian Airlines employee, who asked not to be identified, said that flights to Gondar and Bahir Dar airports were canceled after the attacks.

A resident of Gondar, Johannes Ailey, said that he heard a strong explosion in the Azizu neighborhood of the city at 10:30 pm yesterday.

Another resident of the area said that the missile hit one of the airport buildings.

He added that the area was closed and fire trucks were stopped outside.

Amhara state forces are fighting alongside the federal forces in the face of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front.

The United Nations, the African Union and other parties expressed concern about the possibility of the fighting spreading to other areas in Ethiopia and destabilizing the Horn of Africa region.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said that more than 14,500 people had fled to neighboring Sudan and that the flow of new arrivals "exceeds the current capacity to provide aid."

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