Fighting between Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has resumed in and around Tigray, prompting competing accusations involving Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.

Ethiopia’s army commander, Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, accused Sudan and Egypt of supporting armed groups fighting Ethiopian troops in northern Ethiopia. He said the forces were organised to serve outside interests and could not make military gains without being “backed, supported and supplied by Sudan, Egypt and other external powers”.

The Sudanese military rejected Ethiopia’s allegations in a statement issued on Sunday, describing them as baseless. It made a counterclaim that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting Sudan’s military in a civil war since 2023, was receiving assistance from inside Ethiopian territory. The allegation included claims of training, supplies and military activity involving drones.

Territorial claims and communications disruption

The renewed hostilities began on Wednesday, according to the available reporting. The TPLF was reported to have seized airports and launched attacks into the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara.

An unnamed source who spoke to Al Jazeera Arabic said the Ethiopian army had captured Alamata and was moving towards Mekhoni and Maychew. AFP separately reported that TPLF fighters had taken control of Erebti in Afar and were advancing towards Afdera, about 100km (60 miles) away.

Telecommunications providers reported major interruptions to phone and internet services in Tigray from Friday, making it difficult to independently assess developments and casualty figures.

Tigrai TV’s headquarters in Mekelle was hit by a drone on Sunday. Ethiopia’s government said the station’s operations had been suspended indefinitely, according to reporting by Malcolm Webb. The federal government had not commented on the strike.

Webb said the drone attack came after a significant communications disruption in Tigray. He also said it was not known whether the federal government was responsible for the blackout or whether the TPLF had disrupted communications to prevent electronic systems from being used in drone operations.

Fears of a wider conflict

The TPLF has described its actions as a “defensive war” against the federal government. The group allied with six other armed organisations in an alliance announced the previous week. The alliance was described as seeking to overthrow Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and brought together groups that had fought on opposing sides during the earlier Ethiopia-Tigray conflict.

The latest fighting has raised fears of a return to the 2020-2022 civil war, which was estimated to have caused 600,000 deaths. The TPLF also appeared to be repeating a strategy from that conflict of moving towards Addis Ababa, according to the source material.

The offensive in Afar was reported to be aimed at cutting supply lines from Djibouti, the source of most of Ethiopia’s imports, including fuel.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “particularly troubled by reports of the use of drones as well as incidents of harm to civilians”, according to his spokesman.

No confirmed casualty figures were available. Responsibility for the communications blackout also remained unclear, while disruptions to phone and internet services continued to hinder reporting from the region.