Borkena News Desk
TORONTO, Canada — An artillery strike killed a 19-year-old girl and wounded her younger brother in the East Gojjam zone of the Amhara region, residents and eyewitnesses reported. The incident occurred on Saturday in Debre’e Eyesus town.
Residents identified the deceased victim as 19-year-old Serawit Bewuket. Her younger brother, Aman Bewuket, sustained life-threatening injuries and remains hospitalized after an artillery shell struck their home.
Anonymous sources told Borkena that Etagegne Degefaw and a 79-year-old nun were also wounded in the attack.
Residents directly blamed Ethiopian government forces for the shelling, specifically naming the 6th Command and the 602nd Corps as the units responsible for the Saturday assault on residential neighborhoods. These claims, provided by sources speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, remain unverified due to limited or non-existent accessibility to the conflict zones.
Although the shelling struck residential homes, Saturday marks the local market day—a community gathering that draws residents from ten district kebeles. Residents also reported that artillery targeted homes in both Kuye and Debre Eyesus towns.
Neither the Ethiopian Federal Government Communication Ministry nor the Ethiopian Defense Force immediately commented on the civilian casualties.
However, a Tuesday press release from the Ethiopian Defense Force stated that the military is intensifying operations in East and West Gojjam “to ensure peace and stability in the region.”
The military announced that it launched operations this week targeting “main enemy hideouts” across Chokie, Bokela Tadagi, Kegne Abo, Debrezeit, Amestya, Kabo, Washa Michael, Korta, Senan Mariam, Mestawot, Korebta, Fiktar, Genet Mariam, Kuchit, and the Chokie Mountain chains.
“We are undertaking an operation that ushered in victory,” the Defense Force stated, explaining that the offensive aims to “cut the extremist group’s networks of destruction.”
The military added that it coordinated divisions from nearby areas to ensure the “enemy does not sneak out and is encircled to deny its logistical capacity,” claiming it inflicted heavy losses without providing specific figures.
Fano forces did not release an immediate statement regarding the incident.
The conflict in the Amhara region began in August 2023, when the federal government declared a state of emergency for what it initially described as a brief military operation to disarm Fano forces. The conflict remains active.
Human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have documented extensive rights violations across the region since the conflict erupted, including drone strikes, artillery shelling, and extrajudicial killings. The Ethiopian Defense Force has consistently denied targeting civilians.
__
Join our Telegram Channel: t.me/borkena
Like borkena on Facebook
Join the conversation. Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @zborkena to get the latest Ethiopian news updates regularly. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. To share information or for submission, email info@borkena.com
1). Civilian Casualties [CC] | Human Shields [HS] | Field Information Officers [FIO]: Borkena often posts CC during most ENDF operations including Drone Strikes [DS].
i). To my knowledge, DS are real-time, GPS-guided strikes. Hence, the Drone Operator [DO] sees the target in real time. So, is it the DO’s fault or is it intelligence failure or are Borkena’s sources unreliable? FIO are responsible for info accuracy sent to the ENDF. In this case, it could be inaccurate info or faulty calibration or a sloppy artillery operator.
ii). HS | War Crime [WC] | Domestic Terrorism [DT]: Using civilians as HS is a WC. Insurrection against elected governments is DT. Aiding & Abetting Domestic Terrorists [DTs] is DT, too. So, NO MERCY for Proxy DTs & Abettors that Destabilize Ethiopia!
2). Justice Department [JD] | Witness Protection Program [WPP] | Proxy Guerrilla Wars [PGW]: Egypt-sponsored PGW have been destabilizing Ethiopia ever since the 1960s [EPLF-ELF, TPLF, etc.]. Now, top that up with ‘Fanno’, OLF-IFLO, TPLF-TDF, etc.
i). WPP: The only way to accelerate the PGW’s demise is to implement a Robust WPP. The WPP guarantees the safety of informants & encourages many others to do the same.
ii). Eritrea-Egypt Sleeper Cells [EESC]: Ethiopia’s Law Enforcement Agencies should be vigilant about the ≥400K Eritreans in Ethiopia. Most have completed Army Training & Eritrea’s National Military Service. So, some could be EESC ready to strike Ethiopia.
The Amhara uprising against the brutaal rule of Abiy Ahmed has not attained full mobilization to forces his forces out of the region. The Amhara can learn good lessons from the Tigray forces who decimated Abiy Ahmed`s forces in a short period of time and adavmced deep into Ethiopia because of full nobilization and ridding of collaborators. The collaborators including those in the Abiy army should face executions in accordance with the Amhara way of punishment. If the provocations and propaganda of Abiy Ahmed against the regional power Tigray continues, Tigray forces will launch a military operation in Ethiopia and capture Abiy Ahmed or force him to fly to UAE.
It is excruciatingly painful to hear a young life is cut so short with a whole world waiting for him. To those of you who have been spewing hatred and fuel on fire in the old country from your comfy homes here among us,
I have a question for you. Where are your kids and grandchildren? You are sending them to schools and taking them to extracurricular activities after school but you urge young men and women in the old country to take to the bushes. You are sick and walking with ailing mind.