- Title: Ethiopian military says no civilians hit in latest Tigray air strike
- Date: 24th June 2021
- Summary: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (JUNE 24, 2021) (REUTERS) ETHIOPIA MILITARY SPOKESMAN COLONEL GETNET ADANE STANDING DURING NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS SITTING DURING NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALIST TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) ETHIOPIA MILITARY SPOKESMAN, COLONEL GETNET ADANE, SAYING: "Our planes have eyes, they can identify who is civilian and who is combatants. It is the era of technology. It was a great success. Our heroic air-force carried out a successful mission" JOURNALISTS AND ADANE AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) ETHIOPIA MILITARY SPOKESMAN, COLONEL GETNET ADANE, SAYING: "There is no way they would act as members of Tigray's army when they move around and then Tigrayan civilians when they get hit. We targeted a force that was remembering a 'martyrs day'." ADANE STANDING CAMERA CREWS FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) ETHIOPIA MILITARY SPOKESMAN, COLONEL GETNET ADANE, SAYING: "The reason they used the market was that it was Sene 15 (June 22) the day of the Hawzen massacre. And so they were celebrating the massacre. Through this and with their propaganda, they are trying to mobilise people." ADANE AT NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 8th July 2021 11:49
- Keywords: airstrike army civilians combatants tigray victims war
- Location: ADDIS ABABA AND MEKELLE, ETHIOPIA
- City: ADDIS ABABA AND MEKELLE, ETHIOPIA
- Country: Ethiopia
- Topics: Africa,Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001EIRGZT3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL
Only combatants, not civilians, were struck in an air strike this week in Ethiopia's Tigray region, the country's military spokesman said in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia on Thursday (June 24).
Colonel Getnet Adane told Reuters that the combatants in the town of Togoga were dressed in civilian clothes.
An air strike killed at least 43 people in the town on Tuesday (June 22), a medical official told Reuters. The strike took place after residents said new fighting had flared in recent days north of the regional capital Mekelle.
A resident of the town told Reuters on Wednesday (June 23) that the air strike a day earlier had hit a market in the town west of Mekelle at around 1 p.m. local time (1100 GMT). That resident also said that her 2-year-old daughter had been injured in the attack.
The military spokesman said the combatants were not inside the market, but had gathered in the town to commemorate the anniversary of the bombing of another town in Tigray, Hawzen, in 1988. That attack, by Ethiopia's then-ruling Communist leaders, killed hundreds of people and is widely commemorated in Tigray.
The spokesman said he did not have the death toll from the strike but that it would come soon.
The military has been battling forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the region's former ruling party, since November. Fighting has displaced 2 million people, and the United Nations has warned of a possible famine.
Asked about children injured in Tuesday's attack, the spokesman said the TPLF uses propaganda and is known for faking injuries. He also said that doctors quoted by the media are not "real doctors."
The remarks were the first acknowledgement by the military of the air strike, which came after residents said new fighting had flared in recent days north of Tigray's regional capital Mekelle.
Previously, Getnet, the military spokesman, had declined to confirm or deny the incident, saying air strikes were a common military tactic and that government forces do not target civilians.
The air strike took place as Ethiopian officials counted ballots from national and regional parliamentary elections held this week in seven of the nation's 10 regions.
No voting was held in Tigray, and security concerns and problems with ballot papers also delayed voting in two other regions.
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