• Tigray rebel forces were responsible for the attack, a spokesman for Afar region says

At least 200 people, including more than 100 children, were killed in an attack on a village in the Afar region of Ethiopia, regional officials and hospital sources told the BBC Amharic. Ahmed Koloyta, the region’s head of communications, said that the attack on displaced families sheltering at a health facility and a school was carried out by Tigray rebel forces.

Head of Dubti Hospital, Dr. Mohammed Youssef, said that about 40 people, including women and children, had come to the hospital for treatment. He added that he had heard that more victims were making their way to the hospital, but they died during transport.

According to Dr. Mohammed, 12 people died after arriving at the hospital, while two others were sent to Addis Ababa for intensive care.

Attacks by Tigrayan fighters in the region have forced over 76,000 people from their homes, Ahmed Koloyta said. He told the BBC that the attack was carried out on people taking refuge at Galicoma Health Center.

Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of the UN’s Children’s Fund said in a statement on Monday that crucial food supplies were also destroyed in an area that is already seeing emergency levels of malnutrition and food insecurity.