NAIROBI, (Reuters) – An air strike on a children’s play area killed at least seven people in the capital of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region on Friday, medical officials there said, the first such attack after a four-month old ceasefire collapsed this week.
The officials said three children were among the dead but a a federal government spokesman denied any civilian casualties.
The air strike on Mekelle took place two days after fighting broke out again between the national government and Tigrayan forces on the border of the Tigray and Amhara regions, shattering the ceasefire.Tigrai Television, controlled by the regional authorities, blamed the federal government for the strike. No other military aircraft operate in Ethiopian airspace.
The Ethiopian government subsequently urged residents of Tigray to stay away from military facilities, saying it intended to “take actions to target the military forces.”
Kibrom Gebreselassie, chief executive of Ayder Hospital, said on Twitter the hospital had received four dead, including two children, and nine wounded.He said the strike had hit a children’s playground. Reuters could not independently verify his account. It was not clear if there were any military facilities nearby.
Federal government spokesperson Legesse Tulu said news of civilian casualties was “lies and fabricated drama” and accused Tigrayan authorities of “dumping body bags.”
He denied government strikes hit civilian facilities and said they only targeted military sites. Footage published by Tigrai TV showed a building with the roof blown off, revealing a twisted jumble of slides and emergency workers carrying a stretcher from behind a damaged pink wall painted with a giant butterfly.
