People collecting sorghum from a lorry hit by a drone the night before were killed by a second strike in the border town of Rama on 30 October, according to residents and a medical source.
A drone strike killed at least 11 people in Rama, a town in Tigray's Central zone near the Eritrean border, on the morning of Friday 30 October, according to a medical source and residents quoted by AFP via Africanews.
"Yesterday evening, around 9:00 pm, a drone strike hit a private vehicle carrying sorghum in the centre of Rama town," a resident told AFP by phone. "This morning, people were collecting the scattered grain when another strike hit them."
Accounts of the toll vary. A medical source at a hospital said it had received 11 bodies, AFP reported. Local sources told the Ethiopian outlet Addis Standard that 12 people died at the scene and several others were injured, some seriously, Anadolu Agency reported. A local source told The Abay Times there was no transport to take the wounded to hospital.
Attribution unconfirmed
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) recorded 12 civilians killed and said the strike was "believed to have been carried out by the ENDF (Ethiopian National Defence Force)". That attribution has not been independently confirmed. The Ethiopian army did not respond to AFP's request for comment.
"It was very sad and shocking. There was another drone strike yesterday targeted armed fighters, and that did not surprise us. But today's attack was heartbreaking because it hit young civilians," another resident told AFP.
Wider escalation in the north
Drone strikes in northern Ethiopia since Thursday 29 October have killed at least 25 civilians, including children, AFP reported, including strikes on a camp for displaced people in Amhara region. Anadolu also cited earlier October strikes in Medebay Terer, which killed seven civilians including an eight-year-old girl, and in Hintalo district.
The federal army has been fighting the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which launched attacks on federal forces last month before being pushed out of its strongholds, according to AFP. The TPLF has allied with other insurgents, including Fano militias in Amhara. Addis Ababa accuses Eritrea of supporting armed groups and sending troops into Tigray, which Eritrea rejects, Anadolu reported.
No statement on the Rama strike from the federal government or Tigray's caretaker administration had been reported at the time of writing.
Photo: Farmland near Yeha in Tigray's Central zone, which also includes Rama, 2002. Jialiang Gao, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.