Tigrai Television - affiliated with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) - has showed images of a destroyed building and said civilians were killed in the strikes.

The allegations have not been independently verified.

But a statement released by the government’s communications office said people in Tigray should stay away from areas where the TPLF’s military equipment and training facilities were located.

It did not address the accusations about the air strikes, but it does seem to suggest that aerial attacks are imminent.

It would be a further escalation of the fighting which reignited earlier this week after five months of a ceasefire.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said its aid convoys were unable to reach Tigray, where the conflict that erupted in November 2020 has left millions in urgent need of food aid.

On Thursday, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he had not been able to send money to members of his family in Tigray: