One killed in air strike in Ethiopia’s Tigray, hospital says

NAIROBI (Reuters) – An air strike in the capital of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region killed one person on Friday, a hospital chief executive said, the latest in a series of strikes since fighting resumed late last month.

Kibrom Gebreselassie of the Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekelle told Reuters a drone attack on the city’s Adi Hawsi area wounded a 60-year-old cattle herder who died on the way to hospital.

Ethiopian military spokesperson Colonel Getnet Adane and government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

There have been at least five air strikes in Mekelle since fighting between Tigrayan forces and the national government and its allies resumed on Aug. 24, breaking a five-month-old ceasefire.

Ethiopian authorities have not commented on the strikes.

The war started in November 2020 after Tigrayan forces seized control of military bases, saying they believed an attack by Ethiopia’s military was imminent.

The conflict has killed thousands, displaced millions and created a humanitarian disaster.

The party that leads the regional government, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), dominated Ethiopia’s ruling coalition until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018.

Abiy’s government accuses the TPLF of trying to reassert Tigrayan dominance over Ethiopia. The TPLF accuses Abiy of over-centralising power and oppressing Tigrayans.

(Reporting by Nairobi Newsroom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)