Ethiopia fighting intensifies amid air strikes on Tigray and clashes in Amhara
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – An Ethiopian government air strike hit a university in the Tigray regional capital on Friday, rebellious Tigrayan forces and humanitarian sources said, as thousands of people fled fighting further south.
The government said its strike targeted a base formerly belonging to the military and now being used by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which controls the northern region. Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu said the university was not hit.
The nearly year-long conflict between the government and forces allied to the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics for three decades, has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 2 million.
Getachew Reda, a TPLF spokesperson, told Reuters the strike had hit the compound of Mekelle University. He said he had no information on casualties.
Three humanitarian sources in Ethiopia, citing information from Mekelle residents, also told Reuters that the strike had hit Mekelle University.
Two of the humanitarian sources said a UN plane had aborted a scheduled landing in Mekelle because of the air strike. Legesse said he had no information about this.
THOUSANDS FLEE FIGHTING
The new fighting has forced thousands of people to flee their homes in the eastern part of Amhara, humanitarian sources and local officials said.
On Friday, residents in the major town of Dessie told Reuters that panic was spreading after the TPLF spokesperson said a day earlier that its forces were within artillery range of the town.
One resident said he could hear the sound of heavy gunfire on Thursday night and into the morning, and that the bus fare to the capital Addis Ababa, about 385 km (240 miles) to the south, had increased by more than sixfold this week. "The whole city is panicking," he said, adding that people who could were leaving.
Leul Mesfin, medical director of Dessie Hospital, told Reuters that three patients - two female children and an adult - had died this week at his facility from heavy artillery wounds. He said they had been transported from the town of Wuchale, scene of heavy fighting over the past week, according to both the government and the TPLF forces.