By Ismail Auwal
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has accused forces in the northern Tigray region of carrying out a massacre of civilians.
Mr. Ahmed who had earlier ordered the Ethiopian Defense Forces to lead a “law enforcement operation” in the area, which includes airstrikes, later accused forces in the Tigray region of the massacre.
In a statement, Mr Abiy alleged that “bodies of members of the army, who were shot while their hands and legs were tied”, had been found.
A large number of civilians were reported to have been brutally killed in Ethiopia’s Tigray region amid fighting between the local and federal governments, said Amnesty International on Thursday.
The reported killings occurred in Mai-Kadra, a town in the region’s south-west, on the night of November 9, according to the international NGO.
Witnesses blamed forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) for Monday’s killings, but Tigrayan officials have denied committing the atrocities.
There has been long-standing tension between Ethiopia’s government and the TPLF, which controls Tigray, the country’s northernmost state.
The Ethiopia’s federal government had earlier declared “war” with the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
The conflict in the region has forced thousands of civilians to cross the border into Sudan, which will shelter them in a refugee camp.
