Ethiopian government spokesman Billin Seyum said the airstrikes on Mekele were targeting weapons sites used by the Tigre People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Ethiopia’s federal government launched a military offensive last November to oust the TPLF, and fighting has continued ever since.
Seum said one of these sites, Mesfin Industrial Engineering, “has been appropriated by the TPLF as a heavy weapons storage, manufacturing and repair site.”
TPLF spokesman Getachev Reda responded to the airstrike on Twitter, saying it “targeted a residential quarter in Mekele, causing injury to civilians and damage to property.”
Two eyewitnesses told CNN that the airstrikes took place near the Mesfin industrial complex and that windows of a local hotel were broken.
“The whole city is covered with smoke,” said an eyewitness. He said he had heard that there were many casualties. CNN has not independently confirmed that there have been casualties.
At the time, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, through his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric, said he was deeply concerned at the escalation of the conflict and reiterated his call for an end to all hostilities.
Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said on Wednesday that the United Nations had pulled about 100 staff members out of Tigre due to security concerns, while 400 UN personnel remained.
Haq said there are about 2,000 aid workers who live in Tigre, including the United Nations and national and international NGOs.
Ethiopia said in late September that it was expelling seven senior UN officials, with the UN aid chief warning that the Tigre region was descending into famine due to a government blockade of aid delivery.
According to UNICEF, an estimated 18,600 children under the age of 5 have been admitted to Tigre for treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) from February to August this year. This is an increase of 100% as compared to 2020, it said.
Ethiopian forces have been in control of most of the Tigre since November 2020, when it launched a major offensive on the region, backed by Eritrean troops and local militias, in an effort to topple the TPLF. This was the last time that Mekele was attacked by air.
The operation was launched after Abiy accused the TPLF of attacking a federal military base in Mekele, and after the Tigre leaders decided to elect a regional administration.
In the wake of the capture of Mekele, the Ethiopian government declared a unilateral ceasefire for several months. But Tigrayan forces categorically denied a ceasefire, with a TPLF spokesman saying his forces would not rest until the Ethiopian army and its allies had left the entire region.
Ethiopia has seen a wave of atrocities over the past 11 months of conflict, which has forced 2 million people to flee, fueled famine and left thousands more. The conflict, by many accounts, bears the hallmark of genocide.
Bethlehem Feleke reported from Nairobi, Katie Polglas and Gianluca Mezzofor reported from London. Sheena McKenzie wrote in London. Lindsay Isaacs contributed to this report
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