Dozens killed and injured in Ethiopian market airstrike
Soldiers appeared to be preventing aide from reaching the site of explosion
Dozens of people were wounded or killed in an airstrike on a market in the town of Togoga in Ethiopia's conflict-hit Tigray region, witnesses told AFP Wednesday.
Birhan Gebrehiwet, a 20-year-old survivor whose house next to the market was destroyed by Tuesday's blast, said the attack came from the air causing many casualties.
"We were stepping on them and in their blood," she said.
An emergency worker at a hospital in the regional capital Mekele, 18 miles away, said six wounded people had so far been admitted – including three young children – but that soldiers were preventing others from leaving Togoga.
"There are 45 injured people who are denied access, they risk death," said the emergency worker.
An ambulance driver said he was also being prevented from driving to Togoga.
"I tried to leave Mekele four times today to try and help people, but the soldiers are not letting us go," he said.
Ethiopian troops, backed by Eritrean soldiers, have been fighting in Tigray since November to oust the renegade regional leadership.
Relatives of one man who was seriously wounded in the attack said he had witnessed two explosions, both fired from the air.
On Monday, elections were held across much of Ethiopia but there were no polls in Tigray because of the ongoing conflict which, according to the UN, has pushed 350,000 people to the brink of famine.