Tigrayan forces say the federal government has conducted fresh air strikes in the region’s capital, Mekelle.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) spokesman Getachew Reda wrote in a tweet that the airstrike targeted a residential area and a kindergarten.

Tigrai Television, controlled by the regional authorities, has shown images of a destroyed building and graphic images of children in the kindergarten called Red Kids Paradise.

Shortly after reports of the strike emerged, the government announced it would “take action” against the TPLF and warned civilians to stay away from military targets in the northern region. It did not address the accusations about the air strikes.

Kibrom Gebreselassie, chief clinical director at Mekele’s Ayder Referral Hospital told AFP that four people had died “by the time they arrived (at) the hospital”.

“Two of the dead are children,” he said in a message, adding that nine others were injured in the bombing.