Seven people have been killed after a bus was attacked in the Tigray region, BBC Amharic reported citing eyewitnesses and hospital sources.

Several others were injured and are being treated at hospitals.

The bus was traveling from Mekele to Addis Ababa carrying 41 graduating Mekele University students and was targeted in Adi Mesino when heavily armed men stopped it and sprayed it with bullets Thursday, witnesses said.

A student from the Adigrat University’s Psychology Department who was on the bus told BBC Amharic that he was six bodies lying on the ground.

Mekelle University Student President and Vice President of the National Union of Students, Abrhaley Arefaine confirmed that seven students had been killed and more than 10 injured in the area, based on information collected from the ground. He added that he had heard that two members of the defense forces who were accompanying the students were also killed in the attack. He said the injured students were taken to Woldiya Hospital for medical treatment.

The gunmen have not been identified, but the forces fighting the federal army in the region might be behind the attack, it was said.