The Lalibela Airport, which was under the control of Tigrayan rebel forces for about four months, has sustained heavy damage,  the state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) reported.

Images shown on the national broadcaster revealed the extent of the damage to the office buildings, the runway, the control tower, and the custom house of the airport. The airport’s hangars were seen strewn with debris and damaged by shrapnel, bullets.

Head of the command post charged with implementing the state of emergency order in Giant Gashana area, Sisay Damte said that the rebel group’s attack of the Lalibela Airport once again confirmed its marauding terrorist nature. “During the months the group controlled Lalibela, it committed mass atrocities against civilians as a terrorist tactic. It robbed public and private companies and destroyed what it was not able to transport,” Sisay told EBC.

Federal forces on Wednesday had recaptured Lalibela, known for rock-hewn churches, as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration seeks to wrest back territory from the rebels.