Fighting in northern Ethiopia has spread well beyond the Tigray region, with hospital sources saying at least 52 civilians were killed in three days of heavy combat around the town of Alamata. The violence is the most serious since a 2022 peace deal ended a two-year civil war in which hundreds of thousands of people died.
A doctor at Alamata General Hospital, speaking anonymously to the BBC, said the fighting between Saturday and Monday involved heavy explosives and artillery, some of which hit residential homes. The dead included children and cattle herders, and 12 people were killed in a single strike on the marketplace. Government troops appear to have retaken Alamata, a supply town about 120 kilometres south of Tigray's capital, Mekelle, on Monday 28 September. Pro-government forces say they are now fighting Tigrayan fighters at Korem, roughly 100 kilometres from Mekelle, and the army is reported to intend to push north. The federal army has released no casualty figures. Médecins Sans Frontières said more than 700 wounded people had been admitted to hospitals it supports in Tigray.
The two sides disagree about who started the clashes. The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that governs Tigray, says it is acting defensively against a federal offensive involving drones, artillery and ground troops. The government says Tigrayan forces attacked first, after seizing airports in Mekelle, Axum and Shire, which led Ethiopian Airlines to suspend flights to the region. Fighting has also reached the Afar region, home to a strategic corridor linking landlocked Ethiopia to the ports of Djibouti, where Tigrayan forces captured Erebti. The Afar Pastoralist Development Association estimates about 150,000 people have been displaced, while other humanitarian sources cite more than 100,000. Around Lalibela, in the Amhara region, the army has clashed with an Amhara militia allied with Tigrayan fighters. The town is famed for its rock-hewn 13th-century churches, and 33 tourists remained stranded there after the airport closed to commercial flights.
Communications and services in Tigray have been badly disrupted. Internet and phone links are cut and banking has been suspended, leaving residents without money or power; accounts held by Tigrayans elsewhere have reportedly been frozen or restricted. The BBC says it cannot report from the region, so many details are hard to verify.
The diplomatic stakes are rising. The TPLF joined six other armed groups this month in an alliance that says it wants to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government and set up a transitional administration. Army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula has accused Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of backing armed groups, without providing evidence; all three deny involvement, and Sudan's army counter-accused Ethiopia of aiding the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Qatar urged an end to the fighting and respect for the Pretoria Peace Agreement, while the United Arab Emirates expressed full solidarity with the Ethiopian government. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was gravely concerned and urged all sides to protect civilians, allow aid access and return to talks.
Why it matters: the fighting threatens the fragile 2022 settlement and risks drawing in neighbouring states, in a region where millions are already vulnerable and aid access is limited.