What happened

A UN aid flight carrying 11 passengers was forced to abort its landing at Mekelle Airport on 22 October 2021 after receiving instructions from the control tower amid an Ethiopian federal government airstrike on the city, and returned safely to Addis Ababa. Senior UN official Gemma Connell said it was the first time, to her knowledge, that a flight had turned around in Ethiopia because of airstrikes on the ground; the UN subsequently suspended all flights to Mekelle. The strike's target was disputed: TPLF and humanitarian sources said a university in Mekelle was hit, while the government said it targeted a former military base occupied by TPLF fighters, and Reuters said it could not independently verify either account. TPLF-controlled Tigrai TV reported 11 civilians wounded. This was at least the fourth airstrike on Mekelle that week, amid the broader Tigray war. This record introduces the Ethiopian Tigray war's impact on Mekelle's airport operations to the site's airbase/airport-strike coverage, added following the extension of the backfill window back to 2016.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.