Cape Town — Forces from Ethiopia's Tigray region have taken control of the town of Lalibela in the country's neighbouring Amhara region, Reuters reports.

The town's rock-hewn churches are a United Nations World Heritage site. Lalibela is also a holy site for millions of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians.

Reuters is quoting two eye-witnesses as saying that residents of the town are fleeing from hundreds of armed men speaking Tigrinya, the language of ethnic Tigrayans. A resident said the men's uniforms were not those of federal forces.

Reuters said it could not independently verify the eyewitnesses' information. Spokespeople for the prime minister, the Ethiopian military and a government task force on Tigray did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Tigrayan forces could also not be reached for comment, the news agency says.

The Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency says Thursday's development indicates that Ethiopian rebels are continuing a weeks-long push beyond the borders of Tigray.

The region has been racked by fighting since November 2020, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to topple the government of Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Abiy said the move was a response to TPLF attacks on army camps. In June 2021, pro-TPLF forces retook the Tigray capital Mekelle and the Ethiopian army largely withdrew.

Since then the TPLF has moved east into neighbouring Afar and south into neighbouring Amhara, where Lalibela is located.

AFP reports that soldiers and militia fighters mobilised en masse in parts of Amhara to head off the rebels' advance, but multiple residents of Lalibela told the agency on Thursday that the town fell without a fight to forces they said were from the TPLF.

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