The strike on Sana Elementary School came between 10:00 and 11:00 on the morning of Tuesday, 20 October. More than 150 pupils were in the morning shift, a teacher told Addis Standard.
At least six schoolchildren died and more than 20 were hurt, according to preliminary reports from Dera Woreda in Amhara’s South Gondar Zone. Other accounts put the dead at between seven and ten and the wounded above 25. Addis Standard could not verify the total.
The teacher rejected claims on social media that the drone hit a nearby hideout of Fano armed groups. “There was no armed people in the school or nearby,” the teacher said. “There was not conflict in nearby areas. Many of our students came back to school after three- or two-years interruptions. We don’t know why the school was targeted.” Parts of two classrooms were damaged.
A mother, identified only as Alemtshay for her security, said her 11-year-old son Dagim had stayed home with a fever. She had been pushing him to go because he had already missed two years of school to the war. Around 10:30, during the tea break, she heard screams. “It was a complete chaos; mothers were crying and wailing,” she said. Men went door to door telling people to stay inside in case of a second attack. “I was unhappy when my son failed to go to the school but now, I know God was protecting him,” she said.
Four dead beside a livestock truck
That evening, around 9:00 p.m., a drone hit Finaruo village in Saharti Samre Woreda, in Tigray’s Southeastern Zone. Residents said a group was loading livestock onto an Isuzu truck. Four people died, the animal’s owner and three helpers, and six were injured. “What is most distressing is that the three of them were close relatives who were helping the owner,” one resident said.
Three of the wounded went to Samre Hospital. The other three, with severe injuries, were taken to Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital in Mekelle. Some were aged between 13 and 17. A resident said neither federal nor Tigrayan forces had been moving through the area for days.
A pattern of strikes
Fighting between Ethiopian federal forces and Tigrayan forces intensified on 23 September, after the breakdown of the November 2022 Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. Humanitarian organisations estimate at least 150,000 people have been displaced across Tigray and neighbouring Afar.
Earlier in October a drone reportedly hit a shelter for displaced people in Shiraro, in the Northwestern Zone, killing nine and wounding 14, including a newborn. In Adwa residents reported civilian deaths from strikes at several sites, though the toll could not be verified. In September a drone destroyed a Catholic Relief Services truck carrying more than 41 metric tons of food aid for a displacement camp. The United States condemned that attack and called for a transparent public investigation.
In Amhara, federal forces have fought Fano armed groups since 2023. A July strike on Saint Kirikos Monastery drew condemnation from the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the World Council of Churches. Addis Standard said it could not establish the circumstances of either Tuesday strike or obtain a response from the Ethiopian military.
