Ethiopia: at least 25 dead in drone strikes in Amhara and Tigray

At least 25 people were killed Thursday and Friday in drone strikes in the Amhara and Tigray regions of northern Ethiopia, according to a medical source and witnesses.

“This morning (Friday), the strike hit people who were collecting grain from a vehicle targeted the day before” in Rama, located about seven kilometers from Eritrea, said a witness who requested anonymity, specifying that 13 people had been killed. According to a medical source, “11 bodies were brought to our hospital.”

In recent months, the federal government has increased drone strikes against the rebels of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), who launched an offensive at the end of September to “overthrow” power. Federal forces have since pushed them back towards the Eritrean border. According to the NGO Acled, which specializes in conflict analysis, civilians have been killed by these strikes in recent weeks.

Displaced people camp hit in Amhara

On Thursday, at least 14 people, including children, were killed by several drone strikes on a camp for displaced people in Hayk, about 400 kilometers from Addis Ababa, in the Amhara region, witnesses reported to AFP.

“Four drone strikes were carried out one after the other. We buried 14 people at the center for displaced people. Two others died while receiving medical treatment,” said a resident, given the fictitious first name Yasin for his safety. According to him, pregnant women and children are among the victims. Two other residents reported 14 and 15 deaths.

The strikes occurred “just as the students were returning from school,” said one of these witnesses, called Ahmed. “My sister-in-law was killed, and we couldn’t even find her body because it was dismembered,” he added. Acled, for its part, puts forward a toll of between 16 and 23 deaths, without specifying whether children are among them. Asked by AFP, the spokesperson for the federal army did not respond.

A rebel alliance against federal power

According to Acled, displaced people reported the presence, in the vicinity of the camp, of members of the Fano, the militias of the Amhara ethnic group who have been fighting federal forces for more than three years. The inhabitants of the camp are, according to witnesses, originally from Oromia, a neighboring region where the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) is also waging an armed struggle against Addis Ababa.