The leader of Ethiopia’s Tigray region has confirmed firing missiles at neighbouring Eritrea’s capital and is threatening more, marking a huge escalation as the deadly fighting in northern Ethiopia between regional forces and the federal government now spills across an international border.

Tigray regional President Debretsion Gebremichael, in an interview on Sunday with The Associated Press, would not say how many missiles were fired at the city of Asmara on Saturday but said it was the only city in Eritrea that was targeted.

“As long as troops are here fighting, we will take any legitimate military target and we will fire,” he said, denying reports that Tigray regional forces have entered Eritrea.

At least three rockets appeared to be aimed at the airport in Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, hours after the Tigray regional government on Saturday warned it might attack.

It has accused Eritrea of attacking it at the invitation of Ethiopia’s government since the conflict erupted on November 4.

Women, men and children continue emerging in the distance from the Hamdayet border crossing point along the Tigray region in #Ethiopia.

As of last night, 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟳,𝟬𝟬𝟬 people (plus several unregistered) have fled to Sudan due to ongoing clashes in their home country. pic.twitter.com/9yZHoCB0Ui

— UNHCR Sudan (@UNHCRinSudan) November 14, 2020

The Tigray leader said, “We will fight them on all fronts with whatever means we have.”

He asserts that around 16 Eritrean divisions are fighting in what he calls a “full-scale war”.

The brewing civil war in Ethiopia has the potential to be a devastating conflict for Africa’s second most populous country and the strategic Horn of Africa, with the potential to fracture a key US security ally and create scores of thousands of refugees.

The Tigray regional government, which once dominated Ethiopia’s ruling coalition, broke away from it last year, and the federal government now says members of the region’s ruling “clique” now must be arrested and their well-stocked arsenal destroyed. Each side regards the other as illegal.

Mr Debretsion would not say how many missiles remain at his troops’ disposal but “we have several. We can use it selectively, anywhere.”

When asked about possibly targeting Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, he replied: “I don’t want to tell you, but the missiles are long-range as well.”

The leader of Ethiopia’s Tigray region told Reuters on Sunday that his forces bombed the airport in Eritrea’s capital Asmara on Saturday evening, confirming earlier reports from diplomats of a major escalation in an 11-day old conflict in Ethiopia. https://t.co/QrwI33LgvR

— Reuters Africa (@ReutersAfrica) November 15, 2020

Eritrean officials have not responded to requests for comment, and there was no immediate comment on the missile attack from Ethiopia’s federal government.

The Tigray leader said his government, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, has no communications channel with Eritrea, even before the conflict.

The two sides are at bitter odds after a long and deadly border war that ended after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018.

The TPLF is angry at being marginalised by Mr Abiy’s sweeping political reforms, which won him the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

It also objects to the postponement of national elections until next year, which extends Mr Abiy’s rule.

In September it defiantly held a regional election that the federal government called illegal.

-AAP