A pair of burnt-out tanks now signals the entrance to the Tigray town of Humera, where the streets are lined with rubble and residents remain in shock after an Ethiopian army assault earlier this month.

The conflict between Ethiopia's federal government and the leaders of the northern Tigray region arrived quickly in the farming town, with artillery barrages bombarding commercial buildings and homes as residents fled or cowered in terror.

A communications blackout and restrictions have made reporting on the conflict difficult, but AFP journalists reached Tigray -- the first independent journalists to report from inside the conflict zone since fighting started -- and found the scars of conflict everywhere.

"We didn't expect shelling," said Humera resident Getachew Berhane, a short, bald 42-year-old in a crisp yellow t-shirt.

"Suddenly, we started to hear war weapons, explosions, and then people panicked."

"I couldn't leave my house. I was terrified," he said, as an Ethiopian government official accompanying the AFP team listened in.

The Ethiopian army, battling forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), declared Humera "liberated" on November 12 after heavy clashes in the first days of the conflict.

- Bombs 'from the north' -

The power lines remain cut in Humera, a low-slung town of pastel-painted concrete buildings that was -- until recently -- home to around 30,000 people.

A gaping hole has been punched through the brick facade of the prominent Hotel Africa, while other structures have been peppered with bullet holes and gouged by shrapnel.

In the city centre, soldiers lolled on plastic chairs beneath the shade of trees.

Elsewhere, the city's remaining residents huddled around televisions run on diesel generators as military vehicles and tractors drove the cobbled and paved roads.

The town lies near Ethiopia's borders with Sudan and Eritrea. Many of Humera's residents were among the first of the more than 30,000 Ethiopians who have fled into eastern Sudan for safety, leaving the city feeling abandoned.

Multiple people told AFP that during the battle they witnessed mortar bombs whistling in "from the north", meaning Eritrea.

Ethiopia's government denies TPLF claims that Eritrea is involved in the fighting, but acknowledges making use of Eritrean territory.

- 'Hand-to-mouth living' -

At one tin-roofed residential compound,two women and an elderly man were killed reportedly by shelling and gunfire.

Two injured women still lay recovering from their wounds weeks later, strapped to makeshift stretchers.

A crossroads town in Ethiopia's far northwest, a hot, dry, agricultural lowland, Humera promised prosperity before the start of the conflict.

"This town was on the verge of development," said Tewodros Gebreselassie, a grim-faced, grey-bearded sesame trader.

"But now it's been brought back to hand-to-mouth living because of an unnecessary war."

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed -- last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner -- announced military operations in Tigray on Novemb