A truck carrying men in military-style uniforms passes bystanders on a town street

Eritrean Troops Reported in Adigrat and Heading South as Ethiopian Gov’t Forces Push North of Mekelle

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A truck carrying men in military-style uniforms passes bystanders on a town street

A truck carrying men in military-style uniforms passes bystanders on a town street in one of two images AfriMEOSINT posted on X on Oct. 7, 2026, with a post saying Eritrean troops had deployed around Adigrat and that footage purportedly showed them entering Idaga Hamus, Tigray. Where and when the image was taken could not be independently verified. (Photo: AfriMEOSINT / X)

Eritrean soldiers have been in and around the Tigray town of Adigrat for several days, and some have been seen moving south toward Mekelle in trucks carrying heavy weapons, a local official and residents told AFP on Wednesday. Ethiopian government forces and the allied Tigray Peace Force were pushing north from the regional capital toward the border.

“There have been Eritrean soldiers in Adigrat for the past four days, the population is very concerned,” a city official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. An eyewitness said “Eritrean troops, loaded onto large trucks, patrol vehicles and other vehicles” were on their way to Idaga Hamus, about 20 kilometers south, and added, “They are passing through, carrying heavy weaponry.” Adigrat sits about 40 kilometers by road from the Eritrean border.

Residents told DW Amharic on Wednesday that the Eritrean army had entered Adigrat and was traveling toward Mekelle on heavy vehicles, and a source in Mekelle told DW that the town itself was still held by Tigrayan forces. Zegabi could not confirm the deployment. Eritrea’s information minister, Yemane G. Meskel, denied to Reuters that Eritrean forces were there, calling the witness accounts part of an Ethiopian plan to justify a war of aggression. Spokespeople for Ethiopia’s government did not immediately respond to Reuters.

The reports came as fighting moved north of Mekelle, which federal troops and the Tigray Peace Force entered without a fight over the weekend after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) pulled out. A Tigray Peace Force commander told AFP his fighters had reached Wukro, about 50 kilometers north of Mekelle on the road to Eritrea. A Wukro resident told DW Amharic on Wednesday that heavy weapons could be heard around the town, that Tigrayan fighters had left on Tuesday night toward Adigrat and Hawzen, and that Wukro was for the moment in no one’s hands. Residents of Agula’e, north of Mekelle, told DW that federal troops and the Tigray Peace Force took that town after heavy fighting early on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Ermiyas Ababu, a Tigray Peace Force commander, told the Associated Press that his group’s “mission is to control the state of Tigray and free it from the TPLF rebels.” He said his side was carrying out drone strikes and alleged that Eritrean troops were present in northern Tigray. The AP could not verify either claim. The Critical Threats Project of the American Enterprise Institute said in its Oct. 6 review that earlier reports of Eritrean forces near Irob, Rama, Zalambessa and Sheraro (also spelled Shiraro) “did not include any supporting media or evidence,” and that satellite images from Oct. 3 showed no Eritrean deployments there.

On X, the open-source analyst Rich Tedd (@AfriMEOSINT) wrote at 9:07 AM ET on Wednesday that Eritrean troops had “deployed around Adigrat,” with some “heading towards Mekelle, amid fears of a wider regional war.” He said footage circulating that day purportedly showed them “crossing into Ethiopia and entering Idaga Hamus town in Tigray,” and posted a short video and two photos that Zegabi could not verify. At 8:13 AM ET, Abel Abate Demissie (@Abele_a), an associate fellow in the Africa Programme at Chatham House, wrote that “several credible reports (including AFP and DW) confirm” that Eritrean forces were inside Ethiopia and “expanding in northern and central Tigray, digging trenches and more,” which he called “a dangerous escalation.” The AFP and DW reports did not mention trenches. Quoting his post, an X user posting as FAwot (@Fdesta4) asked, “You said the TPLF had left & that the fed gov controlled all of Tigray. So why would the gov allow Eritrea to dig trenches in areas under federal control?”

Haliyo Media (@HaliyoMedia), which describes itself as East Africa-focused online media, wrote in Amharic at 9:04 AM ET, “የጀርመን ድምፅ እንደዘገበው የኤርትራ ጦር አዲግራት መግባቱን ሰምቻለሁ ብሎ ገልፆል። ዘገባው እውነት ከሆነ ህወሓት ለሁለት ተከፍሎ አንዱ ከህግደፍ አንዱ ከብልፅግና ሆነው ጦርነት… ምናለ ቦታው ትግራይ ባይሆን።” In Zegabi’s translation, the post says DW reported the Eritrean army had entered Adigrat and that, if so, a TPLF split in two would be at war, one side with Eritrea’s ruling PFDJ and the other with the Prosperity Party. It ends by wishing the place were not Tigray. Dagmawi M. Belay (@dagmawi_belay) wrote in Amharic at 9:41 AM ET, “የTDF ሰራዊት አማራ ምድር ላይ ከፋኖ ጎን ሆኖ ቢዋጋ አትገረም”, telling readers, in translation, not to be surprised if Tigray Defense Forces troops fight beside Fano forces in Amhara. Zegabi could not verify the claim.

The federal government in Addis Ababa accuses Eritrea of fighting alongside the TPLF. Abraham Belay is a former defense minister who headed the federally appointed provisional administration of Tigray from 2021 to 2023 and now leads the Ethiopian Nuclear Energy Commission. He said in remarks carried by state media on Sunday that “The Shaebia government and its military physically participated in this war,” using a common Ethiopian name for the Eritrean government. “There is no question that the response to this will be returned twofold,” he said, according to Addis Standard. Yemane G. Meskel, Eritrea’s information minister, answered on X that such statements “are mendaciously trying to weave a new ‘legal’ pretext for the reckless agenda of conflict and war.”

Relations between the two neighbors broke down last week, when Abiy Ahmed’s regime closed its embassy in Asmara and expelled 10 Eritrean diplomats, and Eritrea cut diplomatic ties. Asmara accuses landlocked Ethiopia of planning an invasion to reach the Red Sea and denies backing the TPLF. Eritrean troops fought beside the federal government in the 2020 to 2022 war in Tigray, which killed an estimated 600,000 people, according to the African Union.

The regime in Ethiopia is also calling on Tigrayan fighters to lay down their arms. Brig. Gen. Derbie Mekuriaw, deputy commissioner of the National Rehabilitation Commission, urged fighters in Tigray to hand their weapons to the nearest army units, the state-run Ethiopian News Agency reported on Wednesday. “Starting tomorrow, it is possible to enter the rehabilitation center prepared in the Mekelle area,” Derbie said in remarks on Tuesday, meaning from Wednesday.

Sources