Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused foreign groups of participating in the fighting with the Tigray Front militants, according to the Ethiopian News Agency, at a time when the Tigrayan forces announced that they had allied with forces from the Oromo region and could advance towards the capital, Addis Ababa.

Abi Ahmed said, during a briefing to senior government officials on the current situation, that white-skinned elements joined the Tigray Front militants in the fight against government forces, considering that this confirms the participation of foreign elements in the battles, without mentioning any other details.

He added that the current situation will be dealt with strategically, and that the public's support for the National Army forces must be stronger than it is now.

Earlier yesterday, Ethiopia's prime minister called on all citizens to mobilize, threatening to exacerbate a conflict that could tear apart a country once considered a stable ally of the West in a volatile region.

The "Wollu" region on the border between the regions of Amhara and Tigray witnessed intense military confrontations in the past two days between the militants of the Tigray Front and government forces.

While the Tigray Front declared its control of the largest cities of the Walu region, which are Disi and Kombolcha, the government denied this news, and confirmed that the fighting was still going on and that the government forces were responding to the attacks of the Tigrayan militants.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (networking sites)

On Monday, the Ethiopian government accused the Tigrayan forces of killing 100 young men in the strategic town of Kombolcha, but the Tigrayan forces denied these accusations.

"There is no reason for us to kill (these) young men. There is no resistance in Kombolcha," Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigrayan forces, told Reuters from an undisclosed location by satellite phone.

Tigrayan forces have been battling the Ethiopian government for a year in a widening war that has undermined the stability of Africa's second most populous country.

Reuters was unable to verify the conduct of hostilities around Kombolcha, which is located on a highway about 380 km from the capital, Addis Ababa, and communications with the area are cut off, and journalists are prohibited from entering it.

Rebel Alliance

For his part, a spokesman for the forces of the Ethiopian province of Tigray said - on Monday - that it has joined forces from the Oromo region also fighting the central government, adding that they are considering advancing to the capital.

"We have joined the Oromo Liberation Army, and if achieving our goals in Tigray will require that we advance to Addis Ababa, we will do so, but we are not saying that we are now advancing to Addis Ababa," Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigray People's Liberation Front, told Reuters.

The TPLF spokesman said the TPLF fighters advanced south and captured Kombolcha and its airport.

If confirmed, these forces will have reached the closest point to the Ethiopian capital, since their advance in the neighboring state of Amhara last July.

The capture of Kombolcha would be a strategic gain for the forces fighting the Ethiopian army and its allies, who are trying to expel the Tigrayan forces from the Amhara.

Displaced people in the city of Mekele, capital of the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia (Al-Jazeera)

Reuters was not able to independently verify his comments, because phone calls in the area are down, and Legisi Tolo, a government spokesman, military spokesman and a spokesperson for Amhara province, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

humanitarian crisis

While denouncing ethnic cleansing and other abuses in the war in general, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Monday he was concerned about reports that Tigray forces had captured Kombolcha and Disi, a nearby town that rebel forces said they captured on Saturday.

The US minister added that "the continuation of the fighting prolongs the horrific humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia. All parties must stop military operations, and start negotiations for a ceasefire without preconditions."

Tens of thousands of Amharas were displaced as fighting escalated in Disi.

The Ethiopian government denied the fall of Disi, located north of Kombolcha, to the Tigray forces.

The war broke out a year ago between the federal forces and the forces of the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which dominated Ethiopian political life for nearly 30 years, before Abi Ahmed was appointed as Prime Minister in 2018, and the conflict has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians and caused the displacement of 2.5 million people from their homes.