Ethiopia launches drone attack against Eritrean troops who crossed into Tigray

Members of the Ethiopian federal police in Mekelle after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front retreated from the city. Photograph: Reuters View image in fullscreen Members of the Ethiopian federal police in Mekelle after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front retreated from the city. Photograph: Reuters Ethiopia launches drone attack against Eritrean troops who crossed into Tigray Government forces’ attack raises risk of internal conflict in Ethiopia that could trigger regional war Eritrean troops who crossed into Ethiopia’s Tigray region have come under drone attack from government forces, raising the risk that renewed internal conflict in Ethiopia could trigger an all-out regional war between the neighbouring countries. Military vehicles carrying soldiers drove across Eritrea’s southern border into Tigray on Wednesday, reaching the town of Adigrat 25 miles (40km) south, according to civilian witnesses, a militia commander and the conflict monitoring group Acled. Eritrean troops were then targeted , Acled said. Eritrea has a historical enmity with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which launched an offensive against the Ethiopian government on 23 September, but that previous hostility has been superseded by Eritrea’s desire to head off a perceived risk of Ethiopia invading it, in order to access the Red Sea. In the last two weeks, the TPLF and six other armed groups in Ethiopia have fought the government in Tigray and the neighbouring regions Amhara and Afar. Ethiopia’s military pushed back and an allied militia, the Tigray Peace Force, took over Tigray’s regional capital, Mekelle, on 4 October after the TPLF withdrew from the city. View image in fullscreen Members of the Ethiopian republican guards patrol at the Mekelle Alula Aba Nega international airport on Wednesday. Photograph: ReutersEritrea’s information minister, Yemane Ghebremeskel, said in a statement: “We are not in the business of refuting wild allegations or narratives.” He did not explicitly confirm or deny the presence of Eritrean troops in Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday: “Ethiopia stands ready to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and core national interests, while urging all regional actors to address shared challenges through constructive dialogue, partnership, and adherence to the principles of good neighbourliness rather than confrontation and zero-sum approaches.” The TPLF and Ethiopia’s government fought a brutal civil war from 2020 to 2022. Between 300,000 and 800,000 civilians died, according to British government estimates. Both sides and their allies were accused of war crimes. Eritrea intervened on the side of Ethiopia in that conflict, after a rapprochement between the two countries in 2018, which earned Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, the 2019 Nobel peace prize.