Eritrean troops enter Ethiopia's Tigray, witnesses say

A local official and residents said Wednesday that Eritrean troops had deployed around Adigrat in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region and were moving south, after two weeks of fighting raised fears of a wider regional war.

Fighting broke out on September 23 between the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front and Ethiopian federal forces. Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of backing the rebels. Tensions deepened last week when Ethiopia and Eritrea severed diplomatic ties.

The Ethiopian army has pushed back Tigrayan rebels with help from local militias and entered the regional capital, Mekelle, at the weekend without a fight after the TPLF abandoned the city.

Multiple sources told AFP that Eritrean troops were in Adigrat, about 115 kilometres north of Mekelle on the road to the Eritrean border, and were pushing south. Gebreigziabher Beyene, commander of the pro-government Tigray Peace Force militia, said Eritrean troops had entered Tigray in uniform with heavy weaponry and were being hit by drones.

Beyene said Eritrea was deploying its forces so that fighting would take place inside Tigray rather than spill into Eritrea. Two eyewitnesses in Adigrat said they saw Eritrean soldiers on the streets heading south, and a local official said the troops had been there for days.

Insecurity was also reported west of Mekelle. An Adwa resident said drone strikes hit hotels in the town over the weekend, killing several civilians and wounding four others.

Eritrea became independent from Ethiopia in 1993, and the two countries fought a border war from 1998 to 2000. Eritrea later fought alongside Ethiopia during the 2020-2022 civil war against the TPLF, but relations deteriorated after that conflict.