Ethiopian army says 272 Tigrayan fighters killed in Amhara

Tigray People’s Liberation Front says in a ‘situation of full-blown war’ with Ethiopia’s government.

Tigrayan fighters on patrol in Ethiopia's Tigray Region on Thursday. Tensions have risen after the forces launched a major offensive against the federal government in multiple locations [Reuters]

Ethiopia’s army says it has killed at least 272 fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in a counter-offensive in the country’s northwest Amhara region.

The Ethiopian National Defence Force said on Thursday that another 260 Tigrayan fighters were wounded and several were captured.

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“Government forces launched a counter-offensive that inflicted heavy personnel and equipment losses on the TPLF” after the group and its allies attacked several areas of North Wollo, a region of Amhara that borders Tigray, the army said in a statement on Facebook.

The intensification came days after TPLF and six other armed groups from across Ethiopia announced the formation of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, which committed itself to removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.

The coalition brought together the newly-formed Amhara Fano National Movement, the Oromo Liberation Army and other movements from the Somali, Afar and Benishangul-Gumuz regional states.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed [File: Sergei Bulkin/Sputnik via AP Photo]

“We are in the situation of full-blown war now,” TPLF Vice President Amanuel Assefa told AFP news agency on Thursday.

He confirmed that Tigrayan forces were fighting alongside local armed groups in Afar and Amhara.

The alliance marks a striking realignment that had been almost a year in the making, bringing together armed groups with very different histories and grievances against the central government, including forces with histories of conflict among themselves.

In a statement issued as the fighting widened on Wednesday , the alliance said the federal government was attacking its forces on several fronts and presented their response as part of the broader struggle that had brought the coalition together.

Meanwhile, the escalation has disrupted air travel, as Tigrayan forces seized three local airports in the region.

Flights to Lalibela, a UNESCO-listed site in Amhara known for its medieval rock-hewn churches, were suspended on Thursday, according to Reuters news agency.

AFP also received reports of fighting around Lalibela, causing its airport to close. The area has often been targeted by the Fano, a local armed group that is now operating alongside the TPLF.

Ethiopia’s President Taye Atske Selassie Amde speaks during the United Nations General Assembly, September 23, 2026 [Seth Wenig/AP Photo]

Wider regional rivalries

TPLF last went ⁠to war with the Ethiopian federal government in 2020, leading to a devastating two-year conflict that ended with a peace deal in 2022.

In his address at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Ethiopia’s President Taye Atske-Selassie Amde blamed the escalation on “the forces of destruction and mayhem” and “interference in our internal affairs by adversarial elements”.

He said Ethiopia had exercised “immense restraint” and made progress with its neighbours.

Analysts say the Tigray rebels have support from Eritrea, which fears landlocked Ethiopia is planning to invade its territory to gain access to the Red Sea.

The TPLF’s Assefa told AFP “we have no information about Eritrea’s plan”. Asked if they would request Eritrean intervention, he said: “Not yet.”

Ethiopia’s domestic conflicts are becoming harder to separate from wider rivalries in the Horn of Africa, particularly Addis Ababa’s deteriorating relationship with Eritrea and Sudan’s civil war.

Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has visited Asmara twice since July for talks with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, while Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, reportedly visited Addis Ababa in late August.

提格雷人民解放阵线称，他们与埃塞俄比亚政府处于“全面战争”状态。

周四，提格雷武装人员在埃塞俄比亚提格雷州巡逻。此前，该部队在多地对联邦政府发动大规模攻势，导致紧张局势升级。[路透社]

埃塞俄比亚军方称，在该国西北部阿姆哈拉州的一次反攻中，至少有 272 名提格雷人民解放阵线（提人阵）武装分子被打死。

埃塞俄比亚国防军周四表示，另有 260 名提格雷战士受伤，数人被俘。

列表 1/3：埃塞俄比亚的七派叛军联盟能否挑战阿比·艾哈迈德？

埃塞俄比亚警告称，提格雷叛军发动攻势将带来“毁灭性”后果（共3条，此为第2条）

（共3条）随着提格雷冲突升级，埃塞俄比亚战火蔓延至全境

军方在脸书上发表声明称，在提格雷人民解放阵线（TPLF）及其盟友袭击了与提格雷州接壤的阿姆哈拉州北沃洛地区的几个地方后，“政府军发动反攻，给提格雷人民解放阵线造成了重大的人员和装备损失”。

在提格雷人民解放阵线和来自埃塞俄比亚各地的其他六个武装团体宣布成立埃塞俄比亚人民力量生存联盟几天后，局势进一步升级。该联盟致力于推翻总理阿比·艾哈迈德的政府。

该联盟汇集了新成立的阿姆哈拉法诺民族运动、奥罗莫解放军以及来自索马里州、阿法尔州和贝尼尚古勒-古穆兹州的其他运动。

埃塞俄比亚总理阿比·艾哈迈德 [图片：Sergei Bulkin/Sputnik via AP Photo]

“我们现在正处于全面战争的局面，”提格雷人民解放阵线副主席阿马努埃尔·阿塞法周四告诉法新社。

他证实，提格雷军队正在阿法尔州和阿姆哈拉州与当地武装团体并肩作战。

该联盟标志着一次引人注目的重组，这一重组酝酿了近一年之久，它将有着截然不同的历史和对中央政府不满的武装团体聚集在一起，其中包括一些彼此之间有过冲突历史的武装力量。

周三，随着战斗规模扩大，该联盟发表声明称，联邦政府正在多个战线上攻击其部队，并将他们的回应视为促成该联盟团结起来的更广泛斗争的一部分。

与此同时，局势升级扰乱了航空旅行，因为提格雷武装占领了该地区的三个地方机场。

据路透社报道，周四飞往拉利贝拉的航班暂停。拉利贝拉是联合国教科文组织世界遗产，位于阿姆哈拉州，以其中世纪岩石教堂而闻名。

法新社还收到报告称，拉利贝拉附近发生战斗，导致当地机场关闭。该地区经常遭到法诺武装的袭击，该武装目前与提格雷人民解放阵线并肩作战。

2026年9月23日，埃塞俄比亚总统塔耶·阿茨克·塞拉西·阿姆德在联合国大会上发表讲话。[Seth Wenig/AP Photo]

更广泛的区域竞争

提格雷人民解放阵线 (TPLF) 上一次与埃塞俄比亚联邦政府交战是在 2020 年，导致长达两年的毁灭性冲突，最终于 2022 年以和平协议告终。

埃塞俄比亚总统塔耶·阿茨克-塞拉西·阿姆德周三在联合国大会上发表讲话，将局势升级归咎于“破坏和混乱势力”以及“敌对势力干涉我国内政”。

他说，埃塞俄比亚展现了“极大的克制”，并与邻国取得了进展。

分析人士称，提格雷叛军得到了厄立特里亚的支持，厄立特里亚担心内陆国家埃塞俄比亚计划入侵其领土，以获取红海的出海口。

提格雷人民解放阵线（TPLF）的阿塞法告诉法新社：“我们对厄立特里亚的计划一无所知。”当被问及他们是否会请求厄立特里亚进行干预时，他表示：“目前还没有。”

埃塞俄比亚的国内冲突越来越难以与非洲之角更广泛的竞争区分开来，尤其是亚的斯亚贝巴与厄立特里亚日益恶化的关系以及苏丹的内战。

自 7 月以来，苏丹陆军总司令阿卜杜勒·法塔赫·布尔汉曾两次访问阿斯马拉，与厄立特里亚总统伊萨亚斯·阿费沃基举行会谈；而据报道，苏丹准军事快速支援部队（RSF）指挥官穆罕默德·哈姆丹·达加洛（又名赫梅蒂）于 8 月下旬访问了亚的斯亚贝巴。