State TV: Tigray celebrates arrival of govt troops

Ethiopian TV has broadcast images of what it says are Ethiopian government forces entering the border town of Dansha in the Tigray Region.

The footage show residents there celebrating and cheering the arrival of government soldiers.

The state broadcaster has also been showing images of what it alleges are Tigrayan militia who have surrendered to the government.

Ethiopia's air force is "pounding targets with precision," a military official said Monday, as the federal government continues its offensive against the heavily armed northern region of Tigray.

No clear route to peace is seen.

Neighbouring Sudan has sent more than 6,000 troops to the border, a military official there said, while Ethiopia's Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed again sought to calm concerns that the deadly confrontation could slide into civil war and destabilise the strategic Horn of Africa region.

It remains unclear how many people have been killed in the fighting that erupted last week in Tigray as Abiy's government comes under increasing international pressure to calm tensions.

The United Nations and others have warned of a brewing humanitarian disaster affecting up to 9 million people.

The northern Tigray region is largely cut off from the outside world, making it difficult to verify each side's assertions.

Each accuses the other of starting the fighting.

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