Attacks from Tigrayan forces in Ethiopia's Afar region have forced more than 54,000 people from their homes, an official said on Thursday, as the eight-month-old conflict appeared to be spreading beyond Tigray in the north. Tigrayan fighters seized control of three districts in Afar this week, according to Afar regional spokesperson Ahmed Koloyta. The region is of strategic importance because the main road and railway linking Addis Ababa, landlocked Ethiopia's capital, to the sea port of Djibouti run through it.