Tigray People's Liberation Front claims to shoot down Ethiopian air force helicopter

NAIROBI, Kenya

The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) said Thursday that it shot down an Ethiopian air force helicopter, days after the government bombed two rebel targets in Tigray.

“Our anti-aircraft units in the Mille front have downed an MI-35 helicopter gunship this morning,” TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda said in a statement.

Multiple attempts by Anadolu Agency to get the government to comment on the claim have been unsuccessful.

The UN said more than 2 million people have been displaced because of the war and a humanitarian catastrophe is looming.

More than 5.2 million people across Tigray -- more than 90% of the region's population -- require life-saving assistance, it said.

Nearly 400,000 people are facing famine-like conditions and more than 100,000 children in Tigray could suffer life-threatening malnutrition in the next 12 months.

The war has claimed thousands of lives and left many wounded.

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