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Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu said Friday's air strike
targeted a base formerly belonging to the Ethiopian military and
now being used by rebellious Tigrayan forces as a training site
in the regional capital Mekelle.
Getachew Reda, spokesperson for the Tigray People's Liberation
Front (TPLF) which controls the region, told Reuters the strike
had hit the compound of Mekelle University. He said he had no
information on casualties.
Two humanitarian sources in Ethiopia, citing information from
Mekelle residents, also told Reuters that the strike had hit
Mekelle University. Legesse, the government spokesperson, said
the university was not hit.
The humanitarian sources said a U.N. plane had aborted a
scheduled landing in Mekelle because of the air strike. Legesse
said he had no information about this.
Government forces also struck targets in Mekelle on Monday,
Wednesday and Thursday this week.
War erupted nearly a year ago between federal troops and the
TPLF, which ruled Ethiopia for three decades at the helm of a
multi-ethnic coalition and now controls the northern region.
Thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million
have been forced to flee.
The government air strikes this week come amid intensified
fighting in Amhara, a neighbouring northern region where the
government launched a ground offensive last week to recover
territory it lost to the TPLF several months ago.
(Reporting by Addis Ababa newsroomAdditional reporting and
writing by Maggie FickEditing by John Stonestreet and Peter
Graff)
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