The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) yesterday condemned an air raid on the Ethiopian province of Tigray, saying it hit a “kindergarten” that killed and injured many children.
This is the first international confirmation of damage to a kindergarten, which the Tigray rebels blamed the Ethiopian army for causing, while the Ethiopian government said it only bombed “military installations.” “UNICEF strongly condemns the airstrike on Mekele, the capital of the Tigray region of Ethiopia,” Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), tweeted. “As a result of the impact, a kindergarten was damaged, as a result of which many children died and some of them were injured,” she added. “Children have once again paid a heavy price for the escalation of violence in northern Ethiopia,” she said. For nearly two years, children and their families in the area have suffered the horrors of this conflict, and it must end.”
The Ethiopian government did not immediately respond to the UN statements. An employee at the Aider hospital in Mikkeli confirmed to AFP that “four dead people, including two children, and nine injured” were admitted to the hospital. State television Tigray reported that “seven civilians, including three children” were killed.
The Ethiopian government responded that the Ethiopian Air Force only targeted “military targets”, accusing the Tigray rebels of “placing fake body bags in residential areas to say the planes are targeting civilians”.
