Hundreds Flee Tigray After Saturday Clashes with Ethiopian Forces

Khartoum — Hundreds of people from Ethiopia's Tigray region have crossed into Sudan over the past two days, escaping clashes near the border, according to Sudanese security and medical officials who spoke to AFP.

The exodus comes as Sudan continues to grapple with its own devastating conflict between the national army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, ongoing since April 2023.

A representative of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) said fighting broke out early Saturday in the western Tigray locality of Shererina, close to the Sudanese frontier, involving heavy artillery and drone strikes between Ethiopian federal forces and Tigrayan fighters. The clashes reportedly continued until roughly 5:00 a.m. Sunday.

A security source in the Sudanese border town of Hamdayet said some of those arriving were wounded combatants. A local medical worker said the injured were given emergency treatment before being moved to Al-Hashaba, about 15 kilometers inside Sudan — an area already sheltering thousands displaced by the 2020–2022 Tigray war.

Residents on the Sudanese side described hearing explosions and prolonged gunfire throughout the fighting. One witness roughly 40 kilometers from the border reported three loud blasts Saturday morning and said gunfire was still audible by mid-afternoon, with nearby villagers fleeing across the Setit River. Another resident in Hamdayet said he heard explosions all day and spotted aircraft flying nearby. AFP has not been able to independently confirm these accounts.