Eritrean troops reported entering Ethiopia's Tigray region
Witnesses have reported seeing Eritrean soldiers moving through Adigrat, a town in Ethiopia's Tigray region located approximately 25 kilometres from the border with Eritrea. While Eritrea has not denied that its troops crossed into Ethiopian territory, it has blamed Ethiopia's government for deliberately creating a conflict and accused it of fabricating justifications for war. The reported crossing represents the first confirmed evidence of Eritrean military forces operating inside Ethiopia since fighting restarted between the federal government and allied armed groups including the Tigray People's Liberation Front.
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Multiple witnesses cited by Reuters have reported seeing dozens of Eritrean soldiers in distinctive off-white camouflage uniforms passing through the town of Adigrat in two military trucks on Wednesday. The town lies approximately 25 kilometres south of the Eritrean border. Gebreigziabher Beyene, commander of the pro-government Tigray Peace Force militia, stated that "the Eritrean army has entered Tigray in uniform, equipped with heavy weaponry" and reported that the forces were already being targeted by drone strikes. He suggested that Eritrea was deliberately choosing to conduct military operations inside Tigray rather than risk armed conflict extending into Eritrean territory itself.
Eritrea's Information Minister, Yemane Meskel, stopped short of denying that troops had crossed the border but rejected Ethiopia's narrative as a "fallacious pretext for self-defense," characterising the conflict instead as Ethiopia's own war of aggression. The claims remain difficult to verify independently. Officials in Ethiopia's Afar region had similarly alleged the previous week that Eritrean troops were fighting within their territory, though this assertion also remains unconfirmed. The reported incursion follows the recent severing of diplomatic relations between the two neighbours and has intensified concerns about a potentially broader regional conflict emerging from the ongoing tensions related to Ethiopia's Tigray conflict.
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