Air strike in Ethiopia kills about 26 in Finote Selam
By bintu jidda kanempress
15 august 2023
An air strike in Ethiopia’s Amhara region has killed at least 26 people.
Hospital officials said all the victims who arrived on Sunday were “wearing either casual civilian clothing or Sunday traditional clothes.
“The casualties range from a 13-year-old child to the elderly,” he said. “I didn’t get the chance to see what caused the explosion… but residents said it was a drone strike”.
A university teacher, who was visiting a relative in the hospital said he saw 14 bodies there and been told by a medical worker that another 12 had died.
Fifty-five more are being treated for injuries sustained in the explosion, the hospital official said.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, EHRC had called on “conflicting parties to immediately halt ” all alleged violations of human rights laws.
The violence had led to the Israeli government evacuating its citizens and Jewish people from the area last week.
The suspected strike in Finote Selam on Sunday was among the most deadly in the region, where the army has been fighting a paramilitary force,
Fano.
The fighting has been instigated by Fano accusations that the federal government is trying to weaken Amhara’s defences.
Fano has refused to disarm, prompting the federal government to deploy the army.
Human rights commission had expressed “grave concern” over the “deadly hostilities”.
PM Abiy Ahmed’s government had on August 4 imposed a six-month state of emergency across Amhara.
Amhara is home to thousands of members of the Jewish community.
