Ethiopian Group Reports Killings, PM Says Eritrea Was in Tigray

A new report by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission says Eritrean troops killed unarmed civilians in the historic town of Aksum in Tigray. The East African reports that the document tells of incidents when armed Eritrean troops went from house to house asking for men and boys from villages. They then shot them, it says. The report - titled 'Investigation into Grave Human Rights Violations in Aksum City' - is a preliminary finding, and was released a day after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed admitted for the first time the presence of Eritrean troops on Ethiopian soil. Eritrea had reacted angrily to earlier reports by Amnesty International and later Human Rights Watch in February, accusing the rights watchdogs of relying on 'biased' witnesses among the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). On Tuesday, however, Abiy said Eritrean troops had done "favours" to his country when he first launched an operation targeting the erstwhile ruling party, TPLF. But he did say Addis Ababa would not defend atrocities committed by either his own troops or those of Eritrea.