Tigray IDP camp drone strike kills at least 8, sources say

A drone strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region killed at least eight people, a humanitarian source and a witness said Monday.

An aid worker told AFP the strike hit the camp at Sheraro in western Tigray early Sunday, killing “eight people, including a child” and seriously wounding six others. Tens of thousands of internally displaced people, most of them displaced by the 2020-2022 civil war, live at the camp.

A witness said a mother, her four children and one grandson were killed, along with three other people.

No further details were available. Verification is difficult because media are prevented from travelling to affected areas and communications are significantly disrupted.

Fighting broke out between the Tigray People's Liberation Front and federal forces on September 23, raising fears of a return to the 2020-2022 civil war and a wider regional conflict. In recent days, federal forces have pushed back the rebel offensive and moved north to seize control of Mekelle, the Tigrayan capital.

The fighting has raised concern that the conflict could widen, especially if TPLF soldiers retreat across the border into Eritrea, which is accused of supporting the rebels. The leaders of Eritrea, Egypt, Somalia and Sudan met Sunday in El-Alamein, Egypt, to discuss the conflict.