Ethiopian government says it has recaptured Lalibela, UN World Heritage site

Forces aligned with the A resident in the village of Gragne Amba, 25 km (15 miles) southwest of Lalibela, said Tigrayan forces had left it on Tuesday.”I thought they were joking and TPLF fighters said ‘Many of Abiy’s soldiers are coming,'” she told Reuters. “This morning we saw Amhara special forces. They told us they are here for us and they tried to comfort us.”She said the Amhara forces had left in the direction of Lalibela on Wednesday morning, and residents coming from that direction said the Tigrayan forces had left there too.Reuters spoke to two people who originally lived in Lalibela and fled the fighting. They said relatives had called and said Tigrayan forces had left the town. The phone network in the town was down, they said, but relatives were able to go to an area near the airport that had mobile phone reception.Reuters was unable to reach anyone in Lalibela to independently confirm those accounts. Government spokesman Legesse Tulu said he was awaiting information from the military.