UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesman Jens Larke said at a briefing in Geneva that local health workers at Mekele Hospital confirmed that the children had been killed as a result of airstrikes on the outskirts. Faridabad.
A second airstrike in the town of Mekele “reportedly injured nine people and damaged homes and a nearby hotel,” Larke said, adding that “the intensity of the conflict is very alarming.”
The state-run Ethiopian Press Agency reported Monday that the Ethiopian Air Force launched “a successful offensive” against the TPLF communications network and facility in Mekele. The report said the air strikes were carried out “with the utmost precision to prevent civilian casualties.”
Earlier on Monday, Ethiopia’s government communications chief Legacy Tulu denied the attacks, saying “the government has no plans to terrorize its own people. Why should this happen? It’s not true.”
“Those terrorists are falsely claiming to confuse the world that we are being attacked from both air and land to turn the world against Ethiopia,” Tulu told CNN.
In a separate statement, the official spokesman’s office also said that “the government of Ethiopia would like to request the US and its allies not to be misled by the TPLF as the weeping wolf and the suffering of people in North Wolo, Gondar, Wagh Hemera”. Amhara, and the Afar region.”
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.
growing atrocities
An eyewitness to Monday’s incident in Mekele told CNN she heard an explosion and saw smoke in the area around Adi Hockey Market, describing a scene of panic with people around as she left her office after the explosion. did.
A city resident told Reuters that a strike was called off near a market behind a hotel. An aid worker and a doctor in the area also said there had been an attack and a diplomat shared with Reuters photos of what they said were pools of blood and broken windows.
Larke on Tuesday reminded all parties of their responsibility in accordance with international humanitarian law, saying: “We also call for unrestricted and continued humanitarian access to all those who need our supplies. They need fuel and cash. is also required.”
On Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, through his spokesman Stephane Dujarric, said he was deeply concerned at the escalation of the conflict and reiterated his call for an end to all hostilities.
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.
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.
CNN’s Cara Fox and Eliza Mackintosh contributed reporting.
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