Sudan partially closed its border with Ethiopia, state news agency SUNA reported on Saturday, in the wake of escalating violence in the region.

Heavy fighting flared in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region on Wednesday, diplomatic sources said, after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched military operations in response to what he said was an attack on federal troops.

The local government in Sudan's eastern al-Qadarif state began closing its border with the Ethiopian regions of Tigray and Amhara on Thursday evening until further notice, SUNA said on Saturday.

The government also warned people living at the border to be wary of the repercussions of tensions in neighbouring Ethiopia, it added.

Sudanese areas neighbouring the two Ethiopian regions currently have an active harvest season and any security tensions could seriously harm farmers and their corps, the agency said.

Ethiopian jets bombed the Tigray region on Friday and Abiy pledged more air strikes in the escalating conflict.