WASHINGTON: The United States imposed sanctions Monday on Eritrea's army chief over abuses including massacres and widespread sexual assault in Ethiopia's war-scarred Tigray region. The move by the US Treasury Department against General Filipos Woldeyohannes, chief of staff of the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF), comes amid reports Eritrea has deployed reinforcements to parts of Tigray as fighting escalates.

Forces under Filipos' command are responsible for "massacres, looting, and sexual assaults," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

"EDF troops have raped, tortured, and executed civilians; they have also destroyed property and ransacked businesses," it said.

"The EDF have purposely shot civilians in the street and carried out systematic house-to-house searches, executing men and boys, and have forcibly evicted Tigrayan families from their residences and taken over their houses and property."

Eritrea angrily rejected the decision and the allegations.

"The government of Eritrea rejects, both in letter and spirit, the utterly baseless allegations and blackmail directed against it," the Eritrean foreign ministry said in a statement on Twitter.

"This is not, indeed, the first time for the US Administration to float such baseless smear campaigns against Eritrea," it said.

"In the face of the repetitive and unwarranted accusations, Eritrea cannot remain silent. In the circumstances, Eritrea calls on the US Administration to bring the case to an independent adjudication if it indeed has facts to prove its false allegations."

The Treasury Department said any property or interests of Filipos in the United States would be frozen and US citizens are barred from conducting any business with him.

"The Treasury Department will continue to take action against those involved in serious human rights abuse around the world, including in the Tigray region of Ethiopia," said Andrea Gacki, director of the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.