Ethiopia: deadly airstrike on the Tigray capital, Mekele

View of a thoroughfare in the city of Mekele, capital of Tigray (illustrative image) REUTERS - MAGGIE FICK

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1 min

The violence escalated this Friday, August 26 in Ethiopia, with an airstrike by Ethiopian air force that hit the capital of Tigray province, Mekele.

Tigrayan television for its part evokes seven dead, including several children, the bombardment having destroyed, according to it, a nursery where children were.

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The images broadcast on Friday evening by Tigrayan television are gruesome: several very damaged corpses in the ruins of a totally destroyed building, and the wounded - especially women - bleeding and crying.

Tigrai TV speaks of a bombardment that targeted “ 

a nativity scene

 ” (which the broadcast images seem to indicate) and that killed seven civilians.

The Tigray Foreign Relations Office also denounces the fact that the strike hit, at around 12:30 p.m. local time, "

 a residential area without a military target 

".

The director of the Mekele hospital said on his Twitter account that his services had received four bodies, including those of two children, and nine wounded.

To read also: Ethiopia: the Tigrayan rebels and the central government accuse each other of breaking the truce

At this point, the federal government has not commented on this bombardment.

He contented himself in a press release with denouncing " 

the continuation of the attacks of the TPLF clique 

", the Tigrayan party in power in the region.

He called on residents living in Tigray " 

to stay away from areas where military equipment and TPLF training facilities are located

 ".

Recall that this bombing comes as fighting continued, for the third consecutive day, between the Tigrayans and the forces of the federal government, on the fronts of the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.

To read also: Ethiopia: why is the fighting resuming on the Tigray border?

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  • Ethiopia