Tigrayan forces reject allegations by local officials in Amhara region they killed scores of villagers earlier this month.

Doctors and local officials have said more than 120 civilians were massacred in Ethiopia’s Amhara region earlier this month, but forces from neighbouring Tigray rejected allegations they were responsible.

The killings in Chenna village, near the town of Dabat, took place in early September, according to Sewnet Wubalem, the local administrator in Dabat, and Chalachew Dagnew, spokesperson of the nearby city of Gondar told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday.

“So far we have recovered 120 bodies. They were all innocent farmers. But we think the number might be higher. There are people who are missing,” Sewnet said.

Mulugeta Melesa, head of the hospital in Dabat, told the AFP news agency, “There were 125 dead in Chenna village … I saw the mass grave myself.”

Mulugeta added that residents were “still searching for dead bodies around the area and counting is still going on”.

Chalachew, the Gondar city spokesperson, also said he had visited the burial area in the village and that children, women and elderly were among the dead.

He was quoted by Reuters as saying the killings were during the Tigrayan forces’ “short presence” in the area, and it was now under the control of the Ethiopian federal army.

Intense fighting is being reported in Ethiopia's Amhara state - the latest sign that the war that erupted in the Tigray region in November is spreading.

Federal forces as well as Amhara regional troops were involved in fighting Tigray rebels on three fronts, an Amhara official told the BBC. This is despite the government saying a unilateral ceasefire declared last month had not been suspended. All sides have accused each other of escalating the conflict.

The situation has intensified since the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels recaptured much of Tigray in a spectacular offensive against the national army in June.