Drone Attack on Ethiopia IDP Camp Leaves At Least 14 Dead, Children Among Victims
At least 14 people, including women and children, have been killed after a series of drone strikes hit a camp housing displaced people in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, raising fresh concerns over civilian casualties in the country’s protracted conflict.
The attacks occurred on Thursday, with four successive drone strikes reportedly hitting the displacement centre, according to eyewitness accounts obtained by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday.
One resident, identified only as Yasin for security reasons, said 14 bodies had been buried at the camp, while two other victims died after being rushed for medical treatment. He also disclosed that pregnant women and children were among those killed.
Two other residents corroborated the reports, putting the death toll at 14 and 15 respectively. One of the witnesses said he personally helped bury some of the victims.
The strikes reportedly occurred as schoolchildren were returning home, turning the displacement facility into a scene of devastation.
Another survivor, Ahmed, recounted losing his sister-in-law in the bombardment, saying the force of the explosion left her body severely dismembered and difficult to recover.
Independent conflict-monitoring organisation Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) estimated that between 16 and 23 people were killed, with an unspecified number sustaining injuries.
However, the organisation did not clarify whether children were among the casualties.
The displacement camp is located approximately 400 kilometres northeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, in the Amhara region, which has increasingly become a major theatre of armed conflict.
Federal forces have carried out repeated drone operations in the region, Ethiopia’s second most populous, with more than 20 million residents. United Nations figures published in July indicated that nearly half a million people had been displaced across the region.
Despite requests for clarification from AFP, the spokesperson for Ethiopia’s federal army had not responded to inquiries about the reported strikes at the time of publication.
According to the witnesses, many of those sheltering at the camp originally fled violence in neighbouring Oromia, Ethiopia’s most populous region, before seeking refuge in Amhara.
The Oromia region has experienced years of armed confrontation involving federal government forces and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which the Ethiopian government has designated a terrorist organisation.
The group has waged an insurgency against federal authorities for more than eight years, contributing to persistent insecurity and displacement in the country.
The latest reported bombardment has renewed concerns about the vulnerability of civilians caught between opposing forces, particularly displaced families seeking safety from the ongoing violence.
