Witnesses say airstrikes in the Tigray region of Ethiopia have killed dozens of people in Ethiopia News

Witnesses said Tuesday’s attack targeted an occupied market in the northern Ethiopian town of Tigray Togoga.

Dozens of people are said to have been killed on Tuesday after an airstrike hit a busy market in the Togoga town in the northern Ethiopian town of Tigray, a day after residents said it had erupted north of the Mekelle regional capital.

The bomb arrived at the market at around 13:00 (10:00 GMT), a woman told Reuters news agency that her husband and two-year-old daughter were injured in the attack.

“We didn’t see the plane but we heard it,” he said. “When the explosion happened, they were all exhausted. Later, we came back and we were trying to pick up the wounded. “

Two doctors in Mekell and a nurse told the Associated Press (AP) they could not confirm how many people were killed, but a doctor said local health workers had reported “more than 80 civilian deaths.”

Health workers spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of revenge.

Increased combat

The alleged airstrike has been one of some of the toughest fighting in the Tigray region since the conflict began in November as Ethiopian forces backed by neighboring Eritrea continue to lead former Tigray leaders.

Reuters reported that Getnet Adane, a spokesman for Ethiopia’s military spokesman, did not confirm or deny the incident. He said airstrikes were a common military tactic and the forces do not target civilians.

Three other health workers told Reuters that the Ethiopian military is blocking the arrival of ambulances at the scene.

Injured patients treated at Ayder Hospital in Mekel told medical staff that a plane had dropped a bomb on the Togoga market.

A hospital nurse said the injured included a two-year-old child with a “stomach trauma” and a six-year-old child. He added that an ambulance carrying the injured child to Mekell was blocked for two hours and the baby died on the way.

Opposition party foreign minister Kebede Salsay Woyane Toyray told Togo that a fugitive witness had counted more than 30 bodies and that other witnesses had reported more than 50 dead.

“It was horrible,” an official from an international aid group said when he told the AP he had spoken to a colleague and others.

“We don’t know if the jets were from Ethiopia or Eritrea. They are still looking for bodies by hand. More than 50 people were killed, perhaps more. ”

Witnesses said other ambulances turned back the same day and Wednesday morning, but a group of medical staff arrived at the site on Tuesday afternoon by another route.

“We’ve been wondering, but so far we haven’t gotten permission to go; so we don’t know how many are dead,” said one of Mekell’s doctors.

Another doctor said a Red Cross ambulance traveling on Tuesday, trying to get to the scene, shot twice when Ethiopian soldiers held his team for 45 minutes before re-ordering Mekelle.

“We’re not allowed to go,” he said. “They told us who’s going, they’re helping TPLF troops.”

The TPLF refers to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which ruled Tigray until it was overthrown in November by a federal government offensive. Subsequent fighting has killed thousands of people and forced more than two million people out of their homes.

While the United Nations has accused all parties of abuses, Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers have repeatedly complained that witnesses have robbed and destroyed health centers across Tigray and denied civilians access to care.

This month, humanitarian agencies warned that 350.00 people in Tigray were hungry. Support staff said the soldiers have repeatedly denied access to various places in the region.

The government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says it has almost defeated the insurgents. But forces loyal to the TPLF have called it offensive in some parts of Tigray and have secured a string of victories.