Fighting intensifies in northern Ethiopia as Tigray rebels declare full-blown war

Fighting is intensifying across northern Ethiopia, with Tigray rebels saying the country is now in a “full-blown war” with the federal government.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, seized control of three airports in Tigray on Wednesday and launched attacks into the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions. Ethiopian Airlines has suspended flights to airports in Mekelle, Shire and Axum.

User-generated images posted on social media show military personnel and civilians in Abala, while footage from Mekelle shows cars and people on the streets following the seizure of the regional airport.

Ethiopia’s army says its forces have killed 272 Tigrayan fighters and wounded 260 during a counter-offensive in Amhara. AFP says the figures could not be independently verified.

The renewed fighting follows months of tensions and threatens to unravel the 2022 peace agreement that ended a two-year war in Tigray. That conflict killed more than 600,000 people, according to African Union estimates.

There are also fears the escalation could draw neighbouring Eritrea into a wider regional conflict.