Saturday 9,Nov 2024 {HMC} Toronto – In the latest string of drone attacks against civilians in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, at least 50 are reportedly killed. Elders, children and women were among the victims. And one of the victims is reported to be a pregnant woman.
Twenty-one others were reportedly wounded and the conditions of some of them are life-threatening. Those with serious injuries were referred to a hospital in Durbete.
A day before the attack, there was a reported aerial survey in the area. “
The incident occurred Tuesday this week in the small town of Arge – which is about 40 kilometers from Achefer district’s seat of administration – Durbete, North Gojjam.
BBC Amharic has confirmed the incident from residents in the area.
According to the report, the drone strike was launched around 7:10 a.m. local time. It targeted an open air market, a primary school and health center. All the targets are said to be in close distance ; they are within a radius of 300 meters.
The source also cited the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) as saying that it has received information about it.
Children, elders who were reportedly gathering for a mediation, patients who were in maternity care and daily laborers are among the victims of the attack.
Pregnant woman who was in the health center for maternity care was killed in the attack, according to the source. The source cited a staff at the health center who confirmed it.
Another pregnant woman is also killed with four other family members while having breakfast in their own home, according to residents who spoke to BBC Amharic.
13 children who were killed in the attack were playing soccer in the premises of their school.
“It felt like the aim was to destroy the entire city,” a resident told BBC Amharic.
Another resident who reportedly arrived at the scene of the attack after hearing an explosion said “I saw littered bodies.” He described it as “shocking.”
“We have not seen something like these in our long life,” another resident said.
The Ethiopian government has not remarked about the incident, as has always been the case since it officially launched what it called “law enforcement,” operation in the Amhara region in August 2023.
BBC Amharic said it reached out to the zone and district authorities but it was not a success.
The Ethiopian government has been undertaking relentless drone strikes in the Amhara region since it launched what it calls the “final” stage of the war against “extremists” – as it refers to Fano forces.
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