Reuters: Tigray rebels launch missiles in Ethiopian Amhara

The government of the Ethiopian region of Tigray said on Friday that rebel forces in the region launched a missile attack against the city of Bahr Dar in the Amhara region without causing any damage.

The conflict in northern Ethiopia has claimed hundreds of lives in the past two weeks, prompted 33,000 to flee to Sudan, and cast doubt on the ability of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Africa’s youngest leader and award winner. Nobel Peace Prize last year, to hold the ethnically divided country together.

The northern-based Tigray People’s Liberation Front effectively ruled Ethiopia for decades as the largest force in a multi-ethnic coalition, until Abiy came to power two years ago.

“The illegal Tigray People’s Liberation Front launched a missile attack around 1:40 am in Bahr Dar … the missiles caused no damage,” the government communications office in Tigray said on its Facebook page. Amhara province has sent troops to Tigray in support of Abe.

Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa, with 115 million inhabitants, and is a federation of ten regions administered by separate ethnic groups. In this war, the central government faces one of the most armed regions of the country.