Eritrean soldiers shot civilians on the street and carried out house-to-house searches, executing men and boys. This was carried out in retaliation for an earlier attack by a small number of local militiamen, joined by local residents armed with sticks and stones. For weeks there were rumours about a massacre in Axum where Eritrean soldiers tried to attack Church of St. Mary of Zion, but none of the reports could be verified because communication was switched off and journalists were not permitted to enter Tigray. From 28 of November until the day after, Eritrean soldiers shot civilians on the streets and went house to house in search for fighters. In Axum hospital there are also reports that patients were shot inside their beds. Several media reported about the incident in February and Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Ethiopian Human Right Commission published reports about it, with casualties reported between 100 and 800 civilians. The Ethiopian Attorney General's offfice also published its findings about it, stating that most people killed in the incident were fighters and the amount of casualties is in total not more than 110 of which most had been fighters. At least 40 civilians were killed in house raids. In the Joint Investigion of UNHRC and EHRC it is stated that 6 civilians were killed by Ethiopian soldiers and 118 by Eritrean soldiers according to the AG.