Skip to main content

Ethiopian airstrike hits kindergarten in Tigray region leaving several dead, including children

An airstrike by Ethiopia's air force hit a kindergarten in the country's embattled Tigray region, causing deaths and injuries on Friday, according to local broadcasters. It was the latest escalation of a conflict that has created a humanitarian crisis for millions of people.

Tigray Television quoted witnesses saying the afternoon attack hit a kindergarten called Red Kids Paradise in the Tigrayan capital of Mekele. It aired graphic images of children and adults with dismembered bodies in the aftermath of the attack.

Homes near the kindergarten also were hit in the strike, broadcaster Dimtsi Weyane reported.

Tigrayan officials called the airstrike "a heartless, sadistic" assault.

REMEMBERING THE KABUL AIRPORT ATTACK

"This vicious regime has outdone itself with today's deliberate targeting of a children's building," they said in a statement.

That statement didn't say how many people were killed in the airstrike. But the director of Mekele's Ayder Hospital, Kibrom Gebreselassie, said on Twitter that two children are among at least four people killed.

"More casualties are arriving. The total number so far in our hospital is 13," he said.

The AP hasn’t been able to independently verify the footage. Ethiopian authorities didn't immediately comment on the report.

But Ethiopia’s Government Communications Service said in a statement earlier Friday that the government will "take action targeting the military forces that are the source of the anti-peace sentiment of the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front."

BIDEN REMEMBERS 13 AMERICANS KILLED IN KABUL AIRPORT ATTACK: ‘THEY WERE HEROES’

It warned people in Tigray to stay away from military equipment and training facilities used by Tigray forces.

The report of a strike on a kindergarten comes amid a resumption of fighting between Ethiopian federal forces and Tigray fighters. Both sides accused each other of restarting the war Wednesday after a lull in fighting since June 2021.

The conflict in Tigray, which began in November 2020, has killed thousands in Africa’s second-most populous country, which holds more than 115 million people. The conflict had calmed in recent months amid slow-moving mediation efforts. But last week the spokeswoman for Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told journalists that Tigray authorities were "refusing to accept peace talks."

UKRAINE CLAIMS 200 ELITE RUSSIAN SOLDIERS KILLED IN BASE STRIKE IN LUHANSK

Ethiopia’s government has said it’s ready for talks, but insists the African Union must lead the mediation efforts.

Tigray authorities have criticized the African Union's efforts and urgently sought the resumption of telephone, banking and other services that have been largely cut off since the war began. The statement by Tigrayan authorities after Friday's airstrike charged that the federal government isn't interested in peace talks.

The conflict has created a humanitarian crisis for millions of people affected by the fighting in the Amhara and neighboring Afar regions, while thousands of Tigrayans now live in refugee camps in Sudan.



from Fox News https://ift.tt/C2fWsUk
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

China reaffirms threat of military force to annex Taiwan

China on Wednesday reaffirmed its threat to use military force to bring self-governing Taiwan under its control, amid threatening Chinese military exercises that have raised tensions between the sides to their highest level in years. The lengthy policy statement issued by the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office and its news department followed almost a week of missile firings and incursions into Taiwanese waters and airspace by Chinese warships and air force planes. The actions have disrupted flights and shipping in a region crucial to global supply chains, prompting strong condemnation from the U.S., Japan and others. An English-language version of the Chinese statement said Beijing would "work with the greatest sincerity and exert our utmost efforts to achieve peaceful reunification." TAIWAN SAYS CHINA MILITARY DRILLS PART OF PLAN FOR IMPENDING INVASION "But we will not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures. This is to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

China's Sanya Island getaway shutting down its duty free malls amid COVID outbreak

Sanya, a top tropical holiday destination on China's southern Hainan island, began closing its duty free malls on Friday in response to a worsening COVID-19 outbreak . Since China shut its international borders in early 2020 to curb the spread of COVID-19, Hainan's duty-free industry has boomed, becoming a vital channel for global brands from Gucci to Coach, La Mer to L'Oreal to reach Chinese shoppers. But Sanya International Duty Free City in Haitang Bay, run by China Duty Free Group and Hainan's largest offshore mall, shut for an undetermined period on Friday to prevent COVID-19 spreading, a post on its Weibo account said. BEIJING RESIDENTS ASKED TO WEAR MONITORING BRACELETS TO ENFORCE COVID QUARANTINE, PROMPTING OUTCRY This closure comes even though no cases in Hainan's current outbreak have been detected in Haitang Bay as yet. While the case numbers in China are small compared to the rest of the world, Beijing pursues a "dynamic zero" policy that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

China begins discouraging abortions and promoting fertility treatment as birth rate plummets

China will discourage abortions and take steps to make fertility treatment more accessible as part of efforts to boost one of the world's lowest birth rates , its National Health Authority said on Tuesday. Support measures from taxation and insurance to education and housing would be improved and implemented, with local governments encouraged to boost infant care services and family friendly workplaces, according to guidelines published on the authority's website. The authority said it would carry out reproductive health promotion to enhance public awareness while "preventing unintended pregnancy and reducing abortions that are not medically necessary." VIRUS TESTING THE NEW NORMAL AS CHINA STICKS TO ‘ZERO-COVID’ China's fertility rate of 1.16 in 2021 was far below the 2.1 OECD standard for a stable population and among the lowest in the world. The guidelines come as China's uncompromising "zero-COVID" policy of curbing outbreaks with strict co...
Post a Comment
Read more