Ethiopia says it shot down plane from Sudan carrying arms for rebels

Ethiopia’s air force says it had shot down a plane carrying weapons for the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that had encroached on the country’s airspace via Sudan, state media reports.

“The airplane which violated our airspace from Sudan… and aimed to supply weapons to the terror group was shot down by our heroic air force,” the Ethiopian News Agency quotes armed forces Major General Tesfaye Ayalew as saying.

The date of the incident, the type of aircraft and how it was downed are not detailed.

The plane was “believed to be a property of historical enemies who want Ethiopia’s weakness and for years have been supporting TPLF,” the news agency report says, without elaborating.

#BreakingNews :-Ethiopian Ministry of Defense disclosed that a plane that was carrying weapons for the terrorist group #TPLF, which entered the country through #Sudan by violating the #Ethiopian airspace, has been shot down by Ethiopian air force. https://t.co/4hqX8Vg8n7

— EBC NEWS (@Ebcnewsz) August 24, 2022

The claim was made as fighting between the Tigrayan rebels and government forces erupted in northern Ethiopia for the first time in five months, shattering a truce and dealing a blow to hopes for peace talks to end the 21-month conflict.