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Heavy shelling hit the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region on Saturday, local government and humanitarian sources said, as the city of half a million people prepared for an attack on leaders of the regional ruling party.
The Ethiopian army “has begun to attack the center of Mekele with heavy weapons and artillery,” the local government said in a statement released by the Tigrayan media, a claim confirmed by two humanitarian officials with staff in the city.
“The regional state of Tigray calls on all with a clear conscience, including the international community, to condemn the artillery and fighter jets and the massacres that are being committed,” the statement said.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize last year, announced on November 4 that he had ordered military operations against Tigray’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
More than three weeks of fierce fighting has killed thousands “including many civilians and security forces,” the International Crisis Group said on Friday.
Tens of thousands of refugees have crossed the border into Sudan, and rockets fired from Tigray struck the capital of neighboring Eritrea for a second time Friday night, exacerbating fears that the conflict could draw the wider Horn region. from Africa.
Abiy announced Thursday that he had ordered a “final” offensive against the TPLF leaders, and the Ethiopian army says it has surrounded the city.
A communications blackout in Tigray has made it difficult to verify claims from both sides about how the fighting is going.
A spokesman for a crisis committee formed in response to the hostilities in Tigray did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday on reports of shelling in Mekele, which has already been hit by airstrikes.
A spokesman for the Abiy office referred AFP to earlier statements indicating that the military operations would be carried out “strategically” to avoid undue harm to civilians.
The Ethiopian military said on Saturday it would take control of Mekele “in a few days,” according to a report by state affiliate Fana Broadcasting Corporate.
