Ethiopia announces the destruction of a combat force that came from Sudan

The Ethiopian army announced that a large group of fighters, suspected of belonging to the former ruling party of the troubled Tigray region, had been "destroyed" while trying to enter the country from neighboring Sudan.

Brigadier General Tesfay Ayalio, the official Fana Broadcasting Authority, stated that a force of 320 troops had tried to enter Ethiopia through the town of Hamira in northern Tigray.

He added, "Some of them died on the road as a result of thirst, and some of them were arrested, while the army eliminated those who refused to surrender."

Tigray was plunged into a bloody conflict in November last year when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2019, sent forces to topple the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the party that has dominated the country's political scene for decades.

While he pledged that the military campaign would be short-lived, the fighting continued with no end in sight, and tens of thousands of refugees fled to neighboring Sudan, with which Ethiopia has been caught in several conflicts with him linked to a disputed border region and the massive Renaissance Dam project on the Blue Nile.

Tesfaye said the force was led by "former officers of the Ethiopian Defense Forces".

He pointed out that a military agreement reveals that the Tigray People's Liberation Front "is working secretly with a number of Sudanese leaders, army officers and the enemies of Ethiopia," according to his description.

He described the "destruction" of the force, something that AFP could not verify from independent sources, as a "major victory for the Ethiopian army."

AFP tried to obtain comment from the Sudanese government, but has not yet been able to do so.

Khartoum had previously denied accusations that it was helping forces in Tigray.

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