Ethiopia’s Army Takes Mekelle as Air Strikes Spread Across Tigray: What Is Confirmed
Ethiopia’s federal army and the allied Tigray Peace Force (TPF) have taken Mekelle, the capital of Tigray. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) withdrew from the city without a fight on 3 October 2026. Since then the war has moved north and west of the city. Aid agencies report deadly air strikes on Tigrayan towns, and there have been artillery duels along the Tekeze River. Most battlefield claims since then come from the warring sides or from open-source mappers and have not been independently verified. This piece separates what is confirmed from what is still claimed.
Photo: A street in the old town of Mekelle, Tigray’s regional capital, in 2018 (file photo). Credit: A.Savin, Free Art License, via Wikimedia Commons
Update, 8 October 2026, 06:10 GMT: Ethiopia’s government has now accused Eritrea directly. Enatalem Melese, minister of the Government Communication Service, told Bloomberg that “Eritrean forces operating in Tigray must leave Ethiopian territory without delay”, according to Il Sole 24 Ore and the Horn Review website. Senior federal official Abraham Belay separately told Fana Television that “the Eritrean army has participated with its full capacity and logistics”, the BBC reported.
More witness accounts have appeared. Two Adigrat residents told Reuters they saw two trucks carrying dozens of Eritrean soldiers, identified by their off-white camouflage uniforms, drive through the town on the morning of 7 October. Jalale Getachew Birru, East Africa expert at the conflict monitor ACLED, told Reuters that Eritrean forces crossed the border at Zalambessa that day and moved south towards Adigrat. He said the Ethiopian military had carried out drone strikes on vehicles carrying Eritrean soldiers at Guada, but gave no further details. Residents who spoke to BBC Tigrinya gave larger estimates. One counted about 40 trucks heading south, and another described 20 to 30 large trucks moving towards Idaga Hamus, with vehicles carrying heavy weapons including anti-aircraft guns. The BBC said it could not independently verify the troop movements.
Eritrea’s information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, denied to Reuters that Eritrean forces were there and called the witness accounts part of an Ethiopian plan to justify “a war of aggression”. His statement on X accused Addis Ababa of building “a fallacious narrative of ‘self-defense'”. Al Jazeera noted that the X statement itself did not explicitly deny that troops had crossed. The size of the Eritrean force, and what the reported drone strikes hit, remain unverified. Viral posts saying Eritrean convoys were “destroyed” go beyond what ACLED or the witnesses have said. The “What is confirmed” list below has been updated again.
Update, 7 October 2026, 13:05 GMT: Eritrean troops have been in the Tigrayan town of Adigrat for several days, according to a local official and residents who spoke to AFP. Adigrat lies about 40 km by road south of the Eritrean border. “There have been Eritrean soldiers in Adigrat for the past four days, the population is very concerned,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. One eyewitness said they saw troops “wearing Eritrean military uniforms” heading south along the town’s main road. Another said Eritrean troops on large trucks and patrol vehicles were moving towards Idaga Hamus, about 20 km south of Adigrat, “carrying heavy weaponry”. A commander with the allied Tigrayan militia also told AFP his forces had reached Wukro, about 50 km north of Mekelle on the main road to Eritrea.
These are local accounts, not official confirmation. Neither Addis Ababa nor Asmara has publicly acknowledged an Eritrean deployment. A Tigray Peace Force commander separately alleged an Eritrean presence in northern Tigray, which AP said it could not verify. Eritrea has denied Ethiopia’s earlier allegations against it. The “What is confirmed” list below has been updated.
How Mekelle changed hands
The fighting resumed on 23 September, when seven armed and political groups announced an alliance to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government. The 2022 Pretoria peace deal had already broken down. TPLF fighters took Mekelle’s airport on the first day, and Ethiopian Airlines suspended flights to Mekelle, Axum and Shire, AP reported.
On Saturday 3 October federal troops and pro-government fighters recaptured the airport. A source close to the TPF told Reuters its fighters reached the city centre that afternoon, followed by the army. Late that night the TPLF said it had “temporarily moved out of Mekelle” to “operate from somewhere else”, Al Jazeera reported. A humanitarian source and a resident confirmed government control of the city to Reuters the next day. By 6 October markets were reopening and phone and internet service, cut on 25 September, had been restored, according to AP and Reuters.
Air strikes and artillery after the fall of Mekelle
A humanitarian bulletin cited by Reuters said air attacks on the night of 4–5 October killed at least 17 people northwest of Mekelle: nine in Adwa and eight in Sheraro. The bulletin did not say who carried out the strikes. Reuters could not independently confirm the toll, and the federal army and the TPLF did not respond to requests for comment. On the morning of 5 October the bulletin recorded heavy artillery exchanges between the army and Tigrayan forces near the Tekeze River crossing at Mai Tsebri.
On 6 October, TPF commander Ermiyas Ababu told AP that his group was working with the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) to extend control across Tigray. He said his side was carrying out drone strikes but did not say whether TPF personnel or federal units were flying them.
The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute reviewed open-source reporting up to 6 October. It recorded reported federal strikes on Adigrat, Adwa, Axum, Rama and Irob, the last two on the Eritrean border. It also recorded open-source claims that the army took Agula and Wukro, north of Mekelle on the A2 highway, on 4 October. The group treats these as reports, not verified gains.
What is confirmed and what is not
- Confirmed: federal and TPF forces control Mekelle and its airport. Both sides and multiple wire services say so.
- Confirmed: the TPLF withdrew without a battle for the city and says it will keep fighting.
- Reported, not independently verified: the 17 deaths from air strikes in Adwa and Sheraro, which come from a humanitarian bulletin, and who carried out those strikes.
- Claimed by open-source mappers: federal advances to Agula and Wukro, and the TPLF leadership’s move to Adwa.
- Reported by witnesses to several news agencies, asserted by Ethiopia, denied by Eritrea: Eritrean troops crossing at Zalambessa and moving through Adigrat towards Idaga Hamus (AFP, Reuters and BBC witnesses, ACLED, 7 October). On 7 October Ethiopia’s communications minister told Eritrean forces to leave Ethiopian territory. Ethiopian drone strikes on Eritrean vehicles near Guada were reported by ACLED, with no details released. Earlier claims of Eritrean units near Irob, Rama, Sheraro and Zalambessa remain unverified. CTP said it found no corroborating evidence for those, including in satellite imagery from 3 October.
A war on several fronts
Mekelle is not the only front. CTP reports that the Amhara Fano National Movement captured Wurgessa on the A2 highway south of Woldia on 3 October, threatening the main federal supply road into Tigray. Fano has since cut the B21 road near Mekane Selam. In southern Tigray, the federally backed TPF has clashed with Raya militia over disputed areas around Alamata. To the west, the army and Tigrayan forces are fighting over the Tekeze crossings on the roads to Shire.
Federal officials are already talking about what comes after. Abraham Belay, a former head of the Tigray interim administration, said on 4 October that the government wants to set up a new interim regional government and hold elections in Tigray within months, Ethiopian state agency ENA reported.
Regional stakes
Addis Ababa accuses Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of backing the rebel alliance. All three deny it. Ethiopia and Eritrea cut diplomatic ties last week. On 4 October the leaders of Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan met at El Alamein. Their joint text was a consultative declaration, not a defence pact, as DefenceMENA explained in our analysis of the El Alamein declaration. Three Egyptian officials told Reuters that the four leaders agreed to coordinate military and intelligence efforts if the conflict reached their borders. Ethiopia’s response is covered in Ethiopia Rejects Pressure Over Nile and Red Sea.
Abiy was sworn in for a new five-year term on 5 October. In his address he repeated that “Ethiopia’s modernisation cannot be realised without sea access”, Eritrea says it fears Ethiopia will try to take its port of Assab by force. Abiy says Ethiopia will pursue sea access through peaceful means. The US State Department urged Ethiopia and Eritrea on 3 October to exercise maximum restraint. The EU issued a similar call on 5 October.
The air war in context
Ethiopia’s ability to strike deep into Tigray rests largely on the drone fleet it built during the 2020–2022 war. Imagery and official unveilings place Turkish Bayraktar TB2 and Akinci, Chinese Wing Loong and Iranian Mohajer-6 drones in Ethiopian service. DefenceMENA’s review of drones in the Ethiopia war sets out what is documented and what is disputed. The history of the Ethiopian Air Force and the Ethiopian Army equipment list give wider context. None of the official statements since 3 October names the aircraft used in the latest strikes. Neither Reuters nor AP has attributed the Adwa and Sheraro deaths to a specific force.
Sources
- Al Jazeera, AFP and Reuters — Ethiopian government forces seize Tigray capital Mekelle as TPLF withdraws (4 October 2026)
- Reuters (via The EastAfrican) — Airstrikes and artillery hit north Ethiopia as government and rebels clash, sources say (5–6 October 2026)
- AP (via Ahram Online) — Ethiopian commander reports drone strikes in Tigray as markets reopen in regional capital (6 October 2026)
- Critical Threats Project — Ethiopia War Security Review, 6 October 2026
- US Department of State — Statement on increased tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea (3 October 2026)
- AFP (via Ahram Online) — Eritrean troops deploy in Ethiopia’s Tigray region: local official, residents (7 October 2026)
- Reuters (via WIFC) — Eritrean troops drive through northern Ethiopian town, witnesses say (7 October 2026)
- BBC — Eritrean troops move deep into Ethiopia’s Tigray region as fighting escalates (7–8 October 2026)
- Al Jazeera — Witnesses spot Eritrean troops inside northern Ethiopia as tensions flare (7 October 2026)
- Il Sole 24 Ore — Ethiopia alleges Eritrea has deployed troops in Tigray (7 October 2026)
