Three children were killed and one person was wounded in an airstrike on the capital of the Tigray region in Ethiopia on Monday, the United Nations cited local health workers
Spokesperson of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke said that the health workers reported that the casualties were caused by the strike on the outskirts of Mekelle.
A second airstrike in the city wounded nine people and damaged houses and a hotel, Laerke said.
“This escalation of the conflict is very alarming,” he said.
Rebellious Tigrayan forces accused the Ethiopian government of launching airstrikes on Mekelle on Monday, and though a government official initially denied strikes, state-run media later reported the air force conducted an attack.
The reported raid follows intensified fighting in two other Ethiopian regions, where the central government’s military is trying to recover territory taken by the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Reports from Tigrai TV which is controlled by the TPLF also disclosed that the attack on the city of Mekelle killed three civilians.
War erupted in Tigray almost a year ago between the Ethiopian military and the TPLF, the political party that controls the northern region, killing thousands of people and forcing more than 2 million to flee.