Ethiopia Says Govt Forces Seize Three Towns In Tigray

Ethiopia said on Tuesday its forces had seized three towns in war-stricken Tigray in an advance that coincides with UN warnings of a spiralling conflict and an "utterly staggering" toll on civilians

Addis Ababa, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Oct, 2022 ) :Ethiopia said on Tuesday its forces had seized three towns in war-stricken Tigray in an advance that coincides with UN warnings of a spiralling conflict and an "utterly staggering" toll on civilians.

International calls for a halt to the escalating violence in Tigray have been mounting since a failed attempt by the African Union earlier this month to bring the warring sides to the negotiating table and find a peaceful solution to the near two-year conflict.

"The ENDF (Ethiopian National Defence Force) has taken control of the towns of Shire, Alamata and Korem without fighting in urban areas," the government said in a statement, adding that it would work with humanitarian agencies to provide aid to the areas now under army control.

The announcement was issued by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government after the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) said the strategic city of Shire and other areas had fallen to "invading forces".

Troops from Ethiopia and neighbouring Eritrea had been waging an offensive near Shire for several days, with international alarm over the human cost of the renewed combat in Tigray.

Shire, home to about 100,000 people before the conflict, lies around 300 kilometres (180 miles) by road northwest of Tigray's capital Mekele and about 50 kilometres from the border with Eritrea.

The Tigrayan statement said artillery strikes by the rival forces in areas they reached had killed or injured many civilians, and sent hundreds of thousands fleeing.