Tensions between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia further escalated after Addis Ababa implicitly accused Cairo and Khartoum of supporting insurgents who are trying to impede the construction of the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

In a Sept. 3 statement, the Ethiopian National Defense Force said they stopped a “terrorist” attempt organized by members of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) who infiltrated Ethiopia's far western region of Benishangul-Gumuz from Sudan to target the GERD.

Col. Seifi Engi, the Ethiopian army's coordinator of operations in the Mutakal area in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, said in the statement the Ethiopian army stopped the infiltration attempt and killed more than 50 rebels; 70 others were injured.

“The fighters had light and heavy weapons and had set up mines,” Engi added. A large number of the fighters escaped north where the Ethiopian federal government is carrying out an armed operation against the rebels in Tigray, he continued; the Ethiopian army confiscated some of the weapons left behind and destroyed others.