The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has captured six villages in the Afar region, the regional government has said. Authorities warned they would take action if the fighters fail to withdraw from the area.

The Afar regional government’s communication bureau described the TPLF as “belligerent” and “incapable of learning from its mistakes”, and accused its fighters of opening fire on Afar pastoralists at about 19:00 on Wednesday.

According to the statement, TPLF forces opened fire in Zone 2, Megale and Tonsa in Warae and Milke areas. “When TPLF forces opened fire on the Tonsa kebele, the peace-loving Afar elders pleaded with them to stop and withdraw, but they refused,” the Afar regional government said in the statement. The region said that the TPLF, described as a “group of out-of-touch veterans,” opened fire on “innocent people” and had “clearly violated the Pretoria Agreement.”

More than 2,000 people have been displaced in the region after the areas were taken over by the TPLF, Ethiopia Insider reported, citing a local official. Megale Woreda’s head of Animals, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Abdu Mohammed, was quoted as saying that 1,333 families were displaced from Tonsa, 786 from Adu, and 660 from Faro.

Three days ago, Field Marshal Berhanu Jula, chief of staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, accused the TPLF of treachery and criminal actions during an event commemorating the fifth anniversary of an attack on a northern army base. He said that, following the Pretoria Agreement, the TPLF’s actions, belligerence, and conspiracy provide sufficient grounds to start a war.

Federal officials have also accused the TPLF of re-establishing ties with Eritrea’s government, led by Isaias Afwerki, with which Ethiopia has recently clashed over access to the sea. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Isaias Afwerki, who signed a landmark peace deal in 2018, had cooperated during the Tigray conflict, but relations have deteriorated since its end.

A splinter group, rebranding itself as the ‘Tigray Peace Force’, has emerged from within the TPLF and has been active along the Afar border. In August 2025, the TPLF accused the group of attacking its forces stationed in the Milazat area, killing one soldier.