Highlights
- Midnight airstrikes on Ethiopian refugee camp
- 56 killed in air attack on displaced camp in Tigre area
- The number of injured in the attack is currently 30, including children.
56 people were killed and 30 injured, including children, in an airstrike on a displaced camp in Ethiopia’s Tigre region. Two aid workers from the camp told Reuters, citing local officials and other witnesses. Getachev Reda, spokesman for the central government’s fighting Tigre People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), said in a tweet on Saturday that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed carried out a drone attack on a camp of displaced people in Dedebit, in which 56 innocent people have been reported dead so far. Is.
Aid workers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attack took place late Friday in the town of Dedebit, in the northwest of the region near the Eritrean border. Military spokesman Colonel Garnett Adane and government spokesman Legacy Tulu have yet to comment. The Prime Minister’s spokesperson also did not respond to queries from the local media. Earlier, the government had denied targeting civilians in a 14-month-long clash with rebel forces.
Children and the elderly live in the camp
On Friday, the government released several opposition leaders from prison and said it would start talks with political opponents to promote reconciliation. Aid workers said local officials had confirmed the death toll in Friday’s airstrike. He has also shared some pictures of the injured, including children, with the news agency. He told that many children and elderly people live in the camp.
146 deaths since October
Al Jazeera quoted aid workers as saying the attack happened around midnight when it was dark all around and people had no way of escape. At least 146 people have been killed and 213 injured in airstrikes in the Tigre region since October 18, prior to the most recent attack. Last year satellite images of a refugee camp in the Tigre region of Ethiopia showed more than 400 structures badly damaged.
Experts believed that it was the result of a recent deliberate attack by the fighters. These refugees have been taking refuge here since fighting broke out between the Ethiopian army and rebels in the Tigre region in November 2020. Four camps have been set up near the Eritrean border to house 96,000 refugees, including Shimbelba.
Children injured in airstrikes in Ethiopia (Reuters)
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