Fifty people, including children and pregnant women, have been killed and dozens more injured in a series of drone attacks on Achefer Woreda in North Gojam Zone, Amhara region.
Witnesses told the BBC that the strikes hit Arge (Zebst), a small town 40 kilometers from Dur Bete, in three successive waves on Tuesday. The attacks, beginning around 7:10 a.m., targeted the town’s market area, primary school, and health center, resulting in numerous casualties among both children and adults, the woreda’s capital.
Witnesses reported that the air attack, carried out around 7:10 a.m. in the town’s market area, primary school, and health center, resulted in casualties ranging from children to adults.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) stated that it had received reports of the killings and was in the process of gathering information.
Teenagers playing volleyball, mothers receiving treatment, churchgoers, and farmers at work were among the victims of the drone attack, it was said.
Residents reported that the three targeted areas were close together, and BBC analysis of maps and satellite imagery confirmed they were less than 300 meters apart.
Locals recalled that the drone was circling overhead the day before and they described the attack as an attempt to “wipe out the entire town.”
A family of five—a pregnant mother, father, and their three children—were among those killed while having breakfast at home, residents told the BBC.
Two ambulances carrying the seriously injured were sent to Durbete for treatment, but “government forces” reportedly opened fire along the route, forcing them to turn back.
There was no immediate comment from Ethiopia’s federal government on this week’s bombings, which occurred amid ongoing clashes with Fano militias.
Residents reported that the area was under “government control,” with no Fano forces operating nearby. Although the military has sought to limit negative press coverage of the conflict in the Amhara region, reports continue to surface of civilians being rounded up into large relocation camps and widespread torture of individuals suspected of supporting Fano.
