Drone strikes kill 14, including children

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) — At least 14 people, including children, were killed in several drone strikes Thursday on a camp for displaced people in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, three witnesses told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday.

“Four drone strikes were carried out one after another. We have buried 14 people at the IDP center. Two more died while receiving medical treatment,” said Yasin, who requested anonymity, adding that pregnant women and children were among the victims.

Two other residents of the camp, one of whom said he had buried bodies, reported 14 and 15 deaths respectively, including several children.

The strikes at the camp, 400 kilometers northeast of Addis Ababa, occurred “just as the students were coming home from school,” recounted Ahmed, one of the two other witnesses.

“My sister-in-law was killed, and we couldn’t even find her body because it was dismembered,” he said.

The non-government organization Acled, which specializes in collecting and analyzing data on armed conflicts, said between “16 and 23 people were killed, and an unknown number of people were injured.”

It did not provide details as to whether children were among the victims.

Forces from Addis Ababa have carried out numerous drone strikes in Amhara, Ethiopia’s second most populous region with more than 20 million inhabitants and where nearly half a million people are displaced, according to figures published by the United Nations in July.

Questioned by AFP the spokesperson for the Ethiopian federal army has so far not responded.

According to the witnesses, the displaced people are originally from Oromia, the region neighboring Amhara and the most populous in the country.

The Oromo Liberation Army, designated a terrorist organization by Addis Ababa, has been waging an armed struggle in the region against federal forces for more than eight years.