Ethiopian air forces bombed the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region on Friday. The region’s local tv station said that the attack has hit kindergarten called Red Kids Paradise in the Tigrayan capital of Mekele.
The air strike comes amid a reports of resumption of fighting between Ethiopian federal forces and Tigray fighters, after more than a year of standstill. Both sides accused each other of restarting the war Wednesday since July 2021.
Tigray Television showed graphic images of children and adults with dismembered bodies in the aftermath of the attack.
Ethiopian Government said in a Friday statement that it will “take action targeting the military forces that are the source of the anti-peace sentiment of the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF).”
It warned people in Tigray to stay away from military equipment and training facilities used by Tigray forces.
Following the attack, the Tigray government issued a statement calling the air strike “a heartless, sadistic” assault.
“This vicious regime has outdone itself with today’s deliberate targeting of a children’s building,” the statement added.
UNICEF strongly condemned the air strike in Mekelle, the capital city of the Tigray Region, Ethiopia. The strike hit a kindergarten, killing several children, and injuring others. In a press statement, UNICEF called on all parties to agree to an immediate cessation of hostilities.
The European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic also condemned the attack.
Fighting erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray in November 2020, after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to topple the region’s former ruling party, the TPLF.
The conflict has caused a humanitarian catastrophe, with the UN estimating that 5.5 million people face acute food insecurity. Over 400,000 people in northern Ethiopia are experiencing famine-like conditions – more than in all of the humanitarian crises in the rest of the world combined.
