Fighting has ended between the Ethiopian army and Tigray rebels, local and security sources told AFP on Sunday, after armed exchange flared near the border with Sudan.

"There is a de-escalation," one member of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) said on condition of anonymity, without giving any casualty figures.

Clashes involving heavy artillery and drones broke out in Shererina at about 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Saturday and ended at about 5:00 am, they added.

A security source, who also asked for their name not to be used, confirmed that fighting had stopped.

Escalation

On Saturday, the TPLF, which has been removed from the list of political parties but remains influential in the region, accused the federal authorities of escalation.

There was no immediate response from the federal authorities.

AFP has not been able to independently verify the TPLF claims or identify which forces were on the ground in Shererina.

Fighting has been taking place in the contested area of western Tigray, which is controlled by nationalists from the neighbouring regional state of Amhara.

Devastating war

Federal troops and Tigrayan forces have for several months been massed along the border of northern Tigray in the north of Ethiopia.

Fears of a new war have grown as a result, less than four years after the end of a devastating conflict between the two sides.

It left at least 600,000 people dead, according to an African Union estimate.