Drone strikes in Ethiopia's Amhara and Tigray kill at least 25 civilians, witnesses say

Drone strikes in northern Ethiopia have killed at least 25 civilians, including children, since Thursday, October 29, according to witnesses and a medical source who spoke to the AFP news agency.

The strikes hit the Amhara and Tigray regions, where Ethiopia's federal government is fighting several armed groups.

A camp for the displaced

One series of strikes hit a camp for internally displaced people in Amhara, about 400km north-east of the capital, Addis Ababa. A witness said four drone strikes "were carried out one after another" as schoolchildren were heading home.

"We have buried 14 people at the IDP centre," one witness said, adding that two more people died while receiving medical treatment. Another witness gave a figure of 13.

A strike on a grain truck

In Tigray, a drone hit a truck carrying grain in the town of Rama. A second strike then hit people who had gathered to collect the spilled grain, according to witnesses. A medical source at a hospital said it had received 11 bodies from that incident.

The conflict monitoring group ACLED said the Tigray strike was "believed to have been carried out by the ENDF", the Ethiopian National Defence Force. The government's response to the reports was not immediately available.

An escalating war

Fighting has escalated this year between federal forces and an alliance of seven armed groups that includes the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which fought a devastating war with the government from 2020 to 2022. Ethiopia has accused Egypt, Eritrea and Sudan of backing the alliance, which those countries deny. In October, four African leaders issued a joint declaration calling for de-escalation.

The government has been accused by rights groups of indiscriminate attacks, including drone strikes, that have killed civilians. It says it is targeting armed groups.

Why it matters

Ethiopia, with more than 120 million people, is Africa's second most populous country and home to the African Union's headquarters. Renewed war in its north threatens a humanitarian crisis in regions still recovering from the last conflict, in which hundreds of thousands are estimated to have died from fighting, hunger and lack of medical care.

The use of armed drones has become a defining feature of the conflict, raising concerns about the protection of civilians, particularly in crowded places such as markets and displacement camps.