Torture, detentions and killings rife in western Tigray, report claims

Witnesses say Ethiopian government behind atrocities after it launched a military offensive last year

Government-aligned forces in western Tigray have systematically detained thousands of ethnic Tigrayan people, while torturing and killing many in a campaign of violence, according to a report by two major rights groups that further reveals the scale of abuses in war-hit Ethiopia.

In the past few weeks, Tigrayans identified by local police in the Amhara region and ethnic militia forces called Fano, have been routinely rounded up in house-to-house raids, with adults and teenagers over 15 detained in overcrowded prisons where scores are tortured and face starvation.