(News 360) The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) has called on the civilian population to take up arms to defend themselves against "the genocidal war", an hour after denouncing that Eritrean troops had launched a "full-scale offensive" with support from Ethiopia and special forces from the Amhara region.


The statement came shortly after the organization's spokesman, Getachew Reda, announced on Twitter that Eritrean forces had launched an attack on Tigray from several fronts.


"Given that the existential challenge we face is more than ever one that requires the full participation of each and every Tigrayan, the TPLF calls on you to be fully available for the total war we are waging to thwart the dreams and aspirations of our enemies to the peoples of Ethiopia," wields a statement released by the Tigray Foreign Ministry.


However, the group addressed the people of Ethiopia and asked them to oppose the "campaign to bring the Tigrayan people to their knees" carried out by their government.


In particular, the TPLF implored the people of the Amhara and Afar regions, "on the basis of the positive signs" they have reportedly shown towards Tigray, to intensify their efforts to get out of "the trap set by the fascist government and its partners".


The letter is also addressed to the Eritrean people and the Eritrean Army, to whom the TPLF reminded that "the people of Tigray do not renounce what is theirs by right, nor do they covet what is not theirs", while stressing that their interests and aspirations "are peace and development", and destruction.


"The considerable price you have paid so far to realize the interests of the dictatorial government is enough, you have opposed a campaign in which your children have been pitted against their brothers, and in which they (...) have been used as cannon fodder, even now, continue to intensify your efforts", the missive continues.