MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th February, 2021) The Eritrean troops killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in the city of Axum in the northern Ethiopian state of Tigray on November 28-29, the human rights group of Amnesty International said.
"Eritrean troops fighting in Ethiopia's Tigray state systematically killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in the northern city of Axum on 28-29 November 2020, opening fire in the streets and conducting house-to-house raids in a massacre that may amount to a crime against humanity," Amnesty International said on late Thursday.
The human rights group said it had talked to 41 witnesses of the developments, including in-person interviews with refugees in eastern Sudan and phone interviews with people in Axum.
"They consistently described extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate shelling and widespread looting after Ethiopian and Eritrean troops led an offensive to take control of the city amid the conflict with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in mid-November," Amnesty International noted.
The fighting in Tigray broke out in November after the Ethiopian government accused the local ruling party � TPLF � of attacking a regional military base to hijack weapons and arm the anti-government militia. The Ethiopian forces launched a military operation in the conflict-torn region, with TPLF accusing Eritrea of helping Addis Ababa.
