2023-08-14 20:58:08
At least 26 people were killed Sunday August 13 in an airstrike in Finote Selam, in the Ethiopian region of Amhara plagued by fighting, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Monday. city hospital and one resident.
“Twenty-two bodies were taken to hospital, while four other seriously injured people died shortly after their arrival”said the head of the hospital in this locality in southern Amhara, about 170 kilometers from the regional capital Bahir Dar. “So far, we have received 55 injured patients, more than forty of whom are seriously injured”, he said, on condition of anonymity for security reasons. A resident said, also anonymously, having “personally assisted in the burial of the bodies of thirty victims later that day as well as the transportation of many injured victims”.
The strike is the deadliest event reported since fighting erupted in early July between the federal army and Amhara fighters, including the nationalist Fano militia, in Ethiopia’s second most populous region.
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The Ethiopian federal government declared a state of emergency on August 4 in the face of renewed violence, which threatens to engulf northern Ethiopia, just nine months after the end of a devastating conflict in the neighboring region of Tiger. The state of emergency was ratified on Monday by a vote in parliament.
“Either casual civilian clothes or traditional Sunday clothes”
“Arrived about 15 minutes after the airstrike”the resident contacted by AFP said he had “saw a medium-sized freight vehicle completely destroyed (…) with corpses strewn around”. The attack, which occurred on Sunday morning, hit ” the center of the city “according to this resident. “I heard the loud noise of a plane before the attack”, he said. The medical officer says he has “heard the sound of a loud explosion (…) around 9.30 a.m. to 10 a.m. » ; some residents would have mentioned “drone attack”. “All the dead and injured who came to the hospital were wearing either casual civilian clothes or traditional Sunday clothes. Victims range from a 13-year-old child to elderly people”he added.
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On Monday, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, a statutory independent public institution, expressed in a statement its “serious concern” on the situation in Amhara. In particular, she indicated that she had “received credible reports of strikes and shelling (…) causing many civilian casualties. in three towns, including Finote Selam.
The official toll of the fighting remains unknown in this region where access is restricted, making any independent verification on the ground impossible.
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