Tigray regional capital Mekelle “100%” under control of former rulers, spokesman says

NAIROBI (Reuters) – The former rulers of Ethiopia’s Tigray regional said they were conducting “mop-up” operations on Tuesday against Ethiopian government forces retreating from the regional capital Mekelle and that the city was “100%” back under their control.

“Twenty-five minutes ago the active engagement in Mekelle was over,” Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, told Reuters by satellite phone on Tuesday morning. “Our forces are still in hot pursuit to the south, east.”

A spokeswoman for the prime minister, a military spokesman and the head of the government’s emergency taskforce in Tigray did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(reporting by Maggie Fick and Katharine Houreld; editing by Philippa Fletcher)