In a statement posted on his Twitter account hours after the groups spoke, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said enemies of the state are spreading misinformation. He didn’t mention the opposition or their claims.

The parties’ estimates weren’t verified independently. The Tigray Independent Party’s leader, Girmay Berhe, didn’t immediately answer his phone when called for comment.

“Towns and villages have been demolished by a blind artillery shelling, our health and educational facilities have been looted and destroyed,” the groups said in a statement emailed by Salsay Weyane Tigray. They said the Ethiopian government should end the war, start a dialogue and ensure access for humanitarian aid.

The government or the Tigray People’s Liberation Front or TPLF, which formerly governed the region, haven’t publicly given a conclusive death toll since the fighting started. Redwan Hussein, the spokesman for the government’s Emergency Task Force, and Abiy’s spokeswoman, Billene Seyoum, didn’t immediately respond to separate text messages requesting for comment on Tuesday.

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Ethiopian federal troops entered Tigray in response to an attack on Nov. 4 and toppled the TPLF that set itself in opposition to Abiy after he came to power in April 2018. Though the government announced victory on Nov. 28, the region’s ousted leader, Debretsion Gebremichael, has vowed to continue the conflict that is threatening to destabilize the Horn of Africa.

“The figure given for those in need of aid is higher than Tigray’s estimated population, so it’s likely that the number of civilian fatalities is also significantly inflated by the three parties,” said William Davison, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.

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