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Ethiopia strikes force UN jet to turn back

Cara AnnaAP
Ethiopian authorities say they have launched air strikes in Mekelle against Tigray forces.
Camera IconEthiopian authorities say they have launched air strikes in Mekelle against Tigray forces. Credit: AP

Ethiopian military air strikes have forced a United Nations humanitarian flight to abandon its landing in the capital of the country's Tigray region, and a government spokesman says authorities are aware of the inbound flight.

It appeared to be a sharp escalation in intimidation tactics authorities have used against aid workers amid the intensifying, year-long Tigray war.

Further UN flights have been suspended to Mekelle, the base of humanitarian operations in Tigray, the World Food Program told the Associated Press.

It said the flight with 11 passengers had been cleared by federal authorities but "received instructions to abort landing by the Mekelle airport control tower".

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It safely returned to Addis Ababa.

The friction between the government and humanitarian groups is occurring amid the world's worst hunger crisis in a decade, with close to 500,000 people in Tigray said to be facing famine-like conditions.

The government since June has imposed what the UN calls a "de facto humanitarian blockade" on the region of six million people.

Ethiopian government spokesman Legesse Tulu told the AP authorities were aware the UN flight was in the area but said the UN and military flights had a "different time and direction".

It was not immediately clear how close the planes came to each other.

Tigray forces spokesman Getachew Reda in a tweet said "our air defence units knew the UN plane was scheduled to land and it was due in large measure to their restraint it was not caught in a crossfire".

He suggested that Ethiopian authorities were "setting up the UN plane to be hit by our guns".

Legesse said Friday's airstrikes in Mekelle targeted a former military training centre being used as a "battle network hub" by rival Tigray forces.

Residents said they hit a field near Mekelle University.

Tigray spokesman Kindeya Gebrehiwot told the AP about a dozen people were wounded.

Ethiopia's government in recent months has accused some humanitarian groups of supporting the Tigray forces, and last month it took the extraordinary step of expelling seven UN officials while accusing them of falsely inflating the scale of the Tigray crisis.

Authorities have subjected aid workers on UN flights to intrusive searches and removed medical cargo.

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