AFP: A bid ‘to exterminate us’: Tigrayans recount massacre by Eritrean troops

The soldiers had tied their hands with belts and ropes and shot them in the head.

“I’d rather die than have lived to see this,” Beyenesh told AFP, tears rolling down her face as she described how the annual festival of Saint Mary turned into a bloodbath.

Local church officials say 164 civilians were killed in Dengolat, with most of the deaths occurring on November 30, one day after the festival.

That makes it one of the worst known atrocities in the ongoing conflict in Tigray.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has tightly restricted humanitarian and media access to the region, and for nearly three months Dengolat residents despaired of sharing their story with the world.