{"id":180899,"date":"2026-11-12T09:43:44","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T14:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/?p=180899"},"modified":"2026-11-12T09:43:44","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T14:43:44","slug":"witnesses-tell-bbc-a-drone-strike-killed-36-displaced-people-among-them-eight-children-as-they-fled-on-foot-through-western-oromias-kiremu-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/180899","title":{"rendered":"Witnesses Tell BBC a Drone Strike Killed 36 Displaced People, Among Them Eight Children, as They Fled on Foot Through Western Oromia\u2019s Kiremu District"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Locator<\/p>\n

Kiremu woreda lies in the Wollega area of western Oromia, shown on this locator map of Ethiopia. Map: TUBS\/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0<\/em><\/p>\n

A drone strike late last Friday killed at least 36 displaced people walking through western Oromia\u2019s Kiremu woreda, five witnesses told BBC Amharic, which said it could not independently verify their account.<\/p>\n

The witnesses told BBC Amharic<\/a> and BBC Tigrinya<\/a> that the dead were part of a group of about 200 to 300 people, many of them children and old people, who had left their homes in neighboring Gida Ayana woreda because of the insecurity there since August and were crossing the countryside on foot, hoping to reach Gojjam in the Amhara region. They said the drone hit them at a place called Wedesa Dima at about 10 p.m. on Nov. 6, and one of them, who asked not to be named for his safety, said it struck twice. Kiremu was part of East Wollega zone and now falls under West Oromia zone in the region\u2019s new administrative map, the BBC said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were walking at night by the light of our flashlights when we saw a drone hovering over us,\u201d one resident told the BBC, and he said it suddenly fired while people were still telling one another, \u201cPlease turn off the flashlights\u201d (our translation from Amharic, as are the other quotes in this story).<\/p>\n

Another witness said the dead included eight children, 17 mothers, five of them pregnant, three blind monks and three men older than 60, and that some of the bodies could not be identified. \u201cThe damage is heavy. We are at a time when it is hateful to be human,\u201d he said. He told the BBC the group had been driven from their homes by the \u201cGadaa Commando,\u201d the name residents give to a force they say belongs to the regional government. The Oromia regional government denies that any such force exists, and Gen. Hailu Gonfa, the regional president\u2019s adviser on peace and security, recently told the BBC, \u201cWe have no organization called Gadaa Commando.\u201d<\/p>\n

A resident who said he lost eight relatives, among them his brother, his brother\u2019s wife and two of their children, said he took four wounded members of his brother\u2019s family for treatment the morning after the strike, and that he had seen 16 wounded people who were not getting proper medical care. \u201cAll of those killed were innocent people walking home on foot after fleeing the Gadaa Commando\u2019s attacks,\u201d he said. Another witness said the dead were buried in the forest the next morning. \u201cWe dug in the forest and buried them just like that. They had been left lying there like wild animals,\u201d he said, adding that two babies who had been carried on their mothers\u2019 backs survived. A third resident said 36 people, eight of them children younger than five, were buried together at Wedesa Dima, and that nobody dared carry them to the church \u201cbecause we were afraid that if we gathered, we could be hit.\u201d He said a drone was still circling over the area the night before he spoke to the BBC.<\/p>\n

The BBC said spokespeople for the Ethiopian National Defense Force and for the Oromia regional government\u2019s communication office did not answer its phone calls or written questions about the strike, and neither the witnesses nor the BBC said whose drone it was. In past official statements on drone strikes, the Ethiopian federal government has said its operations target only armed groups and that it takes the greatest care not to harm civilians, BBC Tigrinya noted. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and international human rights groups have repeatedly reported civilians killed in air and drone strikes in different parts of the country, the BBC added.<\/p>\n

Kiremu, Abe Dongoro and Gida Ayana have for years been caught between the Oromo Liberation Army, Fano forces, local militias and forces linked to the government. Earlier this week, residents of the three woredas told BBC Afaan Oromoo that Fano forces had killed civilians, burned homes and looted livestock<\/a> in raids over the past two weeks, and Hailu Adugna, head of the Oromia Communication Bureau, blamed what he called an alliance of \u201cAmharic-speaking Shene and Afaan Oromo-speaking Shene,\u201d using the government\u2019s name for the OLA. Earlier this month, residents told the BBC that regional forces had killed up to 40 civilians in Tulu Gena<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On X, several accounts posted videos they said showed wounded survivors of the strike, gave the date as Nov. 7 and blamed the federal government. One of them, @amharafan<\/a>, put the number of dead at 29 on Wednesday. Zegabi could not verify the videos, the date or the toll in those posts.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n