Fighters from the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) entered Afar on Wednesday, local authorities in the region claim. According to reports, they captured six villages and shelled civilians with heavy artillery fire.
TPLF has not commented on the information.
Militias in the northern region of Tigray fought a devastating war against the country's central government in 2020–2022, during which around 600,000 people are estimated to have been killed. Relations between Addis Ababa and other regions in the country remain strained.
In October, the central government accused the TPLF of increasingly collaborating with neighboring Eritrea and "actively preparing for war against Ethiopia."
