Airstrikes kill 10 in Ethiopia’s Tigray capital, doctor says

TWO airstrikes hit the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region Wednesday morning, killing 10 people, many of them first responders, the director of the city’s flagship Ayder Referral Hospital said, as Ethiopia’s government gave no sign of taking up the Tigray forces’ offer to stop fighting and pursue talks.

The target in Mekele “was a residential neighborhood,” Kibrom Gebreselassie told The Associated Press. “Three of the victims need urgent major surgery, in the face of (a) shortage of medicines.”

The first airstrike wounded two people but the second was deadly, with rescuers among those killed, Kibrom said.

The death toll could climb as more patients reach the hospital, another doctor said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

In a weekend statement to mark Ethiopia’s new year, the Tigray leadership said they were ready to participate in an “immediate” cessation of hostilities with Ethiopian forces