The Ethiopian government said on Thursday that its army was marching to Tigray’s capital, Mekelle. “Our defense forces are moving forward and closing in on Mekele,” Redwan Hussein, Ethiopia’s state minister of foreign affairs told reporters in Addis Ababa. “There are a number of towns that have fallen.”

Tigray regional president Debre Tsion Gebremichael told the Mekele-based Dimtse Woyane that the federal army had taken control of Shire and Raya, adding that this was a “temporary victory”.

Federal forces had “liberated” the Raya, Chercher, Gugufto, and Mehoni localities on the eastern front, and Shire on the conflict’s western front, state-affiliated Fana TV. On the western front, the trenches of Adi Nebrid and Adi Daero were demolished and the army took control of Shire and was heading to Aksum, it said.

While admitting that it had lost ground in the south and federal soldiers had taken the town of Shire to the west, the TPLF leader said that it still held the town of Axum, about 215 km northwest of Mekelle.