{"id":837383,"date":"2026-10-07T12:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T16:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=837383"},"modified":"2026-10-23T22:12:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T02:12:34","slug":"eritrean-troops-reported-in-adigrat-and-moving-south-as-federal-and-allied-forces-take-agulae-north-of-mekelle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/837383","title":{"rendered":"Eritrean troops reported in Adigrat and moving south"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Armed<\/p>\n

Armed men ride in the back of a yellow truck on a town street, in a photo posted on 7 October 2026 by AfriMEOSINT, which said footage circulating that day purportedly showed Eritrean troops entering Idaga Hamus; the place, the date and the identity of the troops have not been independently verified (Rich Tedd \/ @AfriMEOSINT, via X)<\/em><\/p>\n

Eritrean soldiers have been in the Tigrayan city of Adigrat for four days, and convoys carrying heavy weapons have been seen heading south toward Mekelle, a local official and witnesses told AFP on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“There have been Eritrean soldiers in Adigrat for the past four days, the population is very concerned,” a city official who asked not to be named told AFP. One witness said he saw troops “wearing Eritrean military uniforms” moving south along the city’s main road, and another said “Eritrean troops, loaded onto large trucks, patrol vehicles and other vehicles” were heading toward the town of Idaga Hamus, about 20 kilometers south of Adigrat. “They are passing through, carrying heavy weaponry,” the second witness said. Adigrat lies about 40 kilometers by road south of the Eritrean border. A source in Mekelle told DW Amharic that residents of Adigrat had described Eritrean soldiers traveling south on many heavy vehicles, and the same source said Adigrat itself was still under the control of Tigrayan forces.<\/p>\n

Ethiopia accuses Eritrea, Egypt and Sudan of backing the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF); all three deny it. Ethiopia and Eritrea cut diplomatic ties last week, and Eritrea accuses Ethiopia of planning to invade its territory to gain direct access to the Red Sea. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told state-linked media on Sunday that Cairo has “absolutely nothing to do” with events in Ethiopia, which he described as a “domestic crisis,” AFP reported.<\/p>\n

Rich Tedd of the open-source account AfriMEOSINT, the freelance researcher Thomas van Linge and Jawar Mohammed were among those on X who said footage showed Eritrean troops in Idaga Hamus and Adigrat moving toward Mekelle, though its location and date have not been independently verified.<\/p>\n

Eritrea’s information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, denied to Reuters that Eritrean forces were in Adigrat, the Eritrean blog EritreanPost called the reports "misinformation," and the Critical Threats Project said it could not confirm an Eritrean buildup.<\/p>\n

On the ground, government forces are pushing north of Mekelle. Residents told DW Amharic that heavy fighting took place around Agula’e on Wednesday morning and that Tigrayan forces then left the town and moved toward Wukro. Residents also said that government forces had reached Hagere Selam, a small town southwest of Mekelle on the road to Tembien, which DW Amharic could not independently verify. The Critical Threats Project, citing two open-source mappers and the conflict reporter Sajid Nadeem, had reported that federal forces captured Agula’e and Wukro on October 4. Martin Plaut (@martinplaut), a fellow of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies who writes about the Horn of Africa, wrote on Wednesday that there was fighting around Agula’e and that robberies were continuing in Mekelle.<\/p>\n

The UN said on Wednesday that hostilities continue to displace people across Central, North-Western and Eastern Tigray, although it has no verified figures. An opinion article in Addis Standard argued that the main development is “the convergence of Ethiopia’s previously separate conflicts,” warning that “once separate conflicts begin reinforcing one another, containing one becomes progressively more difficult because every new front changes the calculations on the others.” The Toronto-based news site borkena (@zborkena) promoted an opinion article on Wednesday with the title “The Death of TPLF Means Eritrea’s EPLF Is Half-Paralyzed.”<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n