Government spokesman Legesse Tulu said in a text message to AFP that the raid against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) took place in Agbe in the Tembien area on "a centre of military training and heavy artillery depot".

Earlier, the Ethiopian air force conducted a bombing raid on what Legesse said was a weapons cache in Mekele, the city recaptured by the TPLF from government forces in June.

A hospital official said the strike had injured eight people including a pregnant woman.

It was the second round of air strikes in a week against TPLF targets in Tigray, an escalation of the nearly one-year conflict that has raised alarm bells in the international community.