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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Homes near the kindergarten also were hit in the strike, broadcaster Dimtsi Weyane reported.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Tigrayan officials called the airstrike \u201ca heartless, sadistic\u201d assault.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThis vicious regime has outdone itself with today\u2019s deliberate targeting of a children\u2019s building,\u201d they said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
That statement didn\u2019t say how many people were killed in the airstrike. But the director of Mekele\u2019s Ayder Hospital, Kibrom Gebreselassie, said on Twitter that two children are among at least four people killed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cMore casualties are arriving. The total number so far in our hospital is 13,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The AP hasn\u2019t been able to independently verify the footage. Ethiopian authorities didn\u2019t immediately comment on the report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But Ethiopia\u2019s Government Communications Service said in a statement earlier Friday that the government will \u201ctake action targeting the military forces that are the source of the anti-peace sentiment of the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front.\u201d<\/p>\n
It warned people in Tigray to stay away from military equipment and training facilities used by Tigray forces.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The conflict in Tigray, which began in November 2020, has killed thousands in Africa\u2019s 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 \u201crefusing to accept peace talks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ethiopia\u2019s government has said it\u2019s ready for talks, but insists the African Union must lead the mediation efforts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Tigray authorities have criticized the African Union\u2019s 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\u2019s airstrike charged that the federal government isn\u2019t interested in peace talks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An airstrike by Ethiopia\u2019s air force hit a kindergarten in the country\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":25168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[461],"tags":[11261,1648,4899,8843,7799,9436,183,5304,4321,11583,9784,287,10767,8440,5262,1572,2264,10598,6825,11525,7236,9515,3874,5572,9683,5396,9126,3174,6134,9559,5818,6730,7798,5350,7231,5251,3954],"class_list":["post-25167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-accused","tag-africa","tag-african","tag-air-force","tag-air-strike","tag-airstrike","tag-assault","tag-attack","tag-broadcaster","tag-capital","tag-charged","tag-children","tag-conflict","tag-crisis","tag-cut","tag-ethiopia","tag-government","tag-homes","tag-hospital","tag-injuries","tag-kids","tag-killed","tag-lead","tag-military","tag-millions","tag-peace","tag-peace-talks","tag-prime-minister","tag-refugee","tag-sadistic","tag-strike","tag-sudan","tag-tigray","tag-twitter","tag-union","tag-war","tag-will"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}