Ethiopian Airstrike On A Town Square In The Restive Amhara Region Kills 26, Health Official Says

NAIROBI, Amhara Kenya — At least 26 people were murdered, and more than 55 others were injured in an attack on a busy town square in Ethiopia’s unrest-plagued Amhara region, a top health official said on Monday, days after the government claimed that peace had returned to the region.

Local militia members and Ethiopia’s military have been fighting over attempts to disband them, and this week the military used force to retake important Amhara cities.

According to the health professional, who, like other residents, spoke on the record anonymously out of fear of retaliation, the attack on Sunday struck the heart of the Finote Selam community. The official reported that 22 persons passed away at the spot and that several injured required amputations.

According to two locals, the truck carrying citizens returning after giving food to militia members known as Fano’s fighters was the target of the airstrike. There was no way to confirm their story.

A federal government official did not immediately answer an inquiry for comment.

A local instructor reported, “We heard a heavy sound coming from the sky.” “Many people were killed and hurt when it fell.”

At least 26 people were murdered, and more than 55 others were injured in an attack on a busy town square in Ethiopia’s unrest-plagued Amhara region.

On Monday, the state-established Ethiopian Human Rights Commission reported “credible reports of strikes and shelling” in Finote Selam and other Amhara towns, “resulting in many civilian casualties.” Additionally, it stated that attacks were directed towards Amhara regional officials, with some of them dying as a result, “resulting in the temporary collapse of local state structure in many areas.”

This month, the Amhara region received a state of emergency declaration from Ethiopia’s Cabinet. A peace agreement was reached in November following a two-year struggle involving the Fano militia and Ethiopian troops in the neighboring Tigray area.

Attorneys and witnesses claim that amid the disturbance in the Amhara region, officials are currently making mass arrests of hundreds or perhaps thousands of people.

The emergency measures allow law enforcement to make warrantless arrests of suspects, perform searches, and impose curfews. Tens of thousands of members of the ethnic Tigray community were apprehended nationwide during a prior state of emergency proclaimed during the Tigray conflict.

This time, “there has been widespread arrest of civilians who are of ethnic Amhara origin,” the rights commission claimed.

At least 26 people were murdered, and over 55 others were injured in an attack on a busy town square in Ethiopia’s unrest-plagued Amhara region.

In the capital, Addis Abeba, where suspects are being kept at police stations, schools, and other improvised detention facilities after being swept off the streets, two lawyers claimed the emergency measures also appear to be in place. For fear of retaliation, the attorneys spoke on the condition of anonymity.

One attorney claimed that he visited seven schools last week, and “hundreds” of people were being held in police stations. According to the other attorney, 3,000 persons had been detained in Addis Abeba, according to police sources.

A third attorney reported meeting numerous young people detained and charged with having connections to the Fano militia last week at Addis Abeba’s police stations and courts.

One man of Amhara descent claimed that plainclothes police officers hauled him off the street last week after overhearing him discussing the recent turmoil on the phone. He claimed that before being taken to a police station, he was held at a school among hundreds of other people. On Thursday, he was let go without being charged.

At least 26 people were murdered, and more than 55 others were injured in an attack on a busy town square in Ethiopia’s unrest-plagued Amhara region.

Another individual claimed that his brother was jailed at a school with several hundred other people after being arrested in Addis Ababa the day before the state of emergency was imposed. The man, who has visited his brother there twice, claimed that most prisoners are young boys.

According to the federal administration, just 23 persons have been detained in Addis Ababa due to the emergency declaration. Among them is Christian Tadele, a vocal opposition politician who, as a parliamentarian, should be exempt from arrest under Ethiopia’s Constitution.

On Friday, the federal government’s communication office stated, “(N)o suspect has been arrested aside from these 23 individuals and the information circulating that there are mass arrests is wrong.”

The state of emergency should only be in effect for one month, according to the rights commission, and should only be applied “to the specific place where the special danger is said to have occurred, rather than applying it throughout the entire country.”

SOURCE – (AP)