A 22-year-old woman from Selenwuha told Deutsche Welle that heavy-weapon shelling struck relatives sheltering at home. “I have lost six family members,” she said. Wounded survivors, she added, were confined to their homes without medical facilities or vehicles, while the nearest treatment center lay far away.
Fighting between Ethiopian federal forces and Tigrayan fighters has spread across northern Ethiopia. Reports describe civilian deaths, damaged public facilities and disrupted communications. At Aydar Referral Hospital, Mekelle’s largest medical facility, a senior health worker said staff had received 44 critically injured civilians, including 33 children, wounded by shelling in Maychew and Alamata between Saturday and Monday. “Some are blinded, some have their legs and hands amputated from the bombing,” the worker said. At least four people died on the way to the hospital.
Civilians trapped between armed forces
A 45-year-old Alamata resident said an attack came during the market’s opening hours, “when large numbers of people would be gathered there.” He said, “At the Saturday market in Alamata, 11 people were killed and 15 others were wounded.” DW said it couldn’t independently verify those claims, and an Ethiopian National Defense Force spokesperson hadn’t responded to its request for comment by publication.
A 40-year-old Alamata resident said militia members told him government forces had fired artillery at civilians in retaliation. Local residents also reported violent incidents near the Tigray-Amhara border and further civilian deaths from artillery fire. Their accounts describe the toll on people far removed from armed forces’ decisions; some claims remain contested or unverified, as the source says.
The Ethiopian National Defense Force was reportedly moving toward Mekelle, while Tigrayan forces were said to be defending Mekoni and Maychew. Pro-government militia and affiliated media said the ENDF took Alamata on September 27, a reported takeover also recorded by the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data. Alamata lies about 120 kilometers south of Mekelle on a major highway. The overall military situation remained difficult to assess: reports said both federal and rebel forces were advancing.
Tigrayan fighters took control of Mekelle’s main airport on September 23 and clashed with federal forces in Afar and Amhara. Other accounts said Tigrayan forces seized airports in Mekele, Aksum and Shire. Both sides accused the other of starting the latest escalation and described their own actions as defensive. Federal forces launched drone strikes and ground operations.
Aid, services and political leverage
Reports included an attack on a Catholic Relief Services convoy carrying food aid. Tigrayan organizations and human rights groups also said strikes during August and September hit schools, residential areas, a farmer training center and a food-aid truck. Local sources reported serious damage to hospitals, schools and religious institutions, some of which also shelter people.
The federal government has restricted fuel and medical supplies and blocked public-sector salaries in Tigray, a region with an estimated population of roughly 7 million. Tigrayan forces said the federal government withheld funds for civil servants and limited access to banks and fuel. Goods prices reportedly rose dramatically as disrupted supply routes affected communities that had so far avoided direct fighting. Electricity and communications disruptions are also feared.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had evacuated around 160 people from Tigray, including Ethiopian Federal Police officers, Ethiopian Airlines employees and African Union observers. Amdegebreal Admassu, an Ethiopian lawyer focused on political and legal affairs, said fighters had affected public facilities that also shelter residents. “We observe instances where these facilities — which also serve as shelters for residents — are either accidentally hit or deliberately targeted,” he said. “Under both international law and our country's penal code, such actions are classified as war crimes.” Mebrihi Birhane, vice director for the NGO Human Rights First Ethiopia, said civilians must have access to essential services during war and called this an obligation for all armed forces involved.
A settlement left unfinished
The Pretoria Agreement, signed under African Union mediation, ended the previous two-year war in 2022, but political and security provisions remained incomplete. The agreement called for disarmament, representation for Tigray in both houses of parliament, and an inclusive interim regional administration until regional and federal elections. Disputes persisted over contested territories, displaced people’s return and the full demobilization of Tigrayan forces; hundreds of thousands of displaced people couldn’t return to western and southern Tigray.
The TPLF restored Tigray’s pre-war political administration and reinstated the region’s pre-war council, which the federal government viewed as a violation of the agreement. Its legal party registration was revoked in 2025, excluding it from Ethiopia’s June 2026 national vote. The promised political process hasn’t settled the disputes now unfolding alongside military operations.
The TPLF joined a new coalition of seven armed groups, announced on September 20 and formally named the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival on September 25. The alliance declared that removing the government in Addis Ababa was its objective and said its minimum program included an inclusive transitional administration and constitutional reform. Pope Leo XIV urged all parties Wednesday “to choose the path of dialogue” and called for “generous” and “timely” humanitarian aid. “Armed conflict never solves problems but only worsens them leaving in its wake a trail of death, destruction and resentment,” he said.