Hundreds of Eritrean government supporters and opponents have clashed with each other and with Israeli police in Tel Aviv.

Eritrea, one of the world’s most repressive countries, is marking 30 years of independence as festivals held by its diaspora in Europe and North America have been attacked by anti-government exiles.

Eritrea’s president in rare public comments has dismissed as “a fantasy” allegations that his country’s forces carried out rape, looting and other abuses in the war in neighboring Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

Eyewitnesses and aid workers say that allies of Ethiopia’s federal military are looting property and carrying out mass detentions in Tigray.

Witnesses in Ethiopia's embattled Tigray region tell The Associated Press that forces from neighboring Eritrea are killing some civilians and looting as they and allied Ethiopian forces head for the regional capital.

New satellite imagery of one of the world’s most reclusive nations shows a military buildup inside Eritrea near the border with Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, backing up witness accounts of a new, large-scale offensive.

Ethiopia’s government says its military could re-enter the capital of its embattled Tigray region within weeks, calling into question the unilateral cease-fire it declared in Tigray just days ago.

(AP Photo)NAIROBI – Eritrea’s government is rejecting as “outrageous lies” a story by The Associated Press in which witnesses describe a massacre of several hundred people carried out by Eritrean soldiers in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel criticized Thursday’s story on the massacre in Ethiopia’s holy city of Axum in a series of Twitter posts on Friday. Gebremeskel has not responded to AP questions throughout the months-long Tigray conflict,AdEritrea's government has not confirmed the presence of reportedly thousands of its soldiers in Tigray. The Tigray region borders Eritrea, and witnesses have described seeing truckloads of loot pass through on their way toward the country. Eritrea, one of the world’s most secretive nations, has long been an enemy of the now-fugitive former leaders of the Tigray region, who dominated Ethiopia’s government for nearly three decades.