At least 108 people have been killed since the beginning of January in air strikes believed to have been launched by Ethiopian forces on the Tigray region, the United Nations announced, indicating that they may have committed war crimes.
“We are concerned about the numerous information we continue to receive about civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian property by air strikes on the Tigray region of Ethiopia,” said Elizabeth Throssell, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, at a press conference on Friday.
She explained that “at least 108 civilians have been killed and 75 wounded since the beginning of the year, as a result of air strikes that may have been launched by the Ethiopian Air Force” on this region.
The deadliest air strike to date, targeted a camp for the displaced in Didibet city on January 7, and resulted in dozens of dead and wounded. The spokeswoman said: “We have since recorded the death of three people succumbing to their serious injuries in the hospital, which brings the death toll from this strike alone to at least 59.”
The Tigray region has been witnessing an armed conflict for 14 months between the federal government and the former local authorities of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which ruled Ethiopia for nearly 30 years until Abi Ahmed came to power in 2018.