(Bloomberg) -- At least 403 civilians were killed in the conflict in Ethiopia's Afar and Amhara regions during September through December, according to the state human rights watchdog.
The deaths occurred under artillery fire, air raids and drone attacks mainly by Tigrayan forces, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission's chief, Daniel Bekele, told reporters Friday in the capital, Addis Ababa. In addition, there were 346 extra-judicial killings by the Tigray People's Liberation Front's forces and militia allied to it on one hand, and the federal army and security forces backing it on the other.
TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda didn't respond immediately to an email seeking comment on the accusations.
Ethiopia has been engulfed in a civil war for the past 16 months. The conflict erupted when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered an incursion into Tigray after troops loyal to regional authorities attacked a federal army base. That followed months of tension stemming from Abiy's sidelining of the TPLF, which had previously been the nation's preeminent power broker.
In November, the war intensified as the TPLF forces advanced toward the capital and took control of key towns in the Amhara and Afar regions, until the federal army pushed the TPLF fighters back and recaptured strategic areas.
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