Armed men at the gate of Mehal Meda General Hospital, North Shewa, in a photo posted on X on 7 October 2026 by Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge); location geolocated by Zaryon OSINT (@zarGEOINT); date not independently verified
Residents of the towns told Mereja that the Shewa Fano Asaminew Command captured several Shewa towns on Wednesday, including Mehal Meda, Wegere, Zemero, Mida and Jiru.
They said there were several casualties on both sides. The Amhara Fano National Movement (AFNM) also said on Wednesday that its fighters had taken Mehal Meda and two other district capitals in the Menz area of Shewa from federal forces. Two open-source analysts matched photos of armed Fano fighters to the gate of Mehal Meda General Hospital. The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), the federal gov’t and the Amhara regional administration had not commented on the claims by Wednesday night. Mereja asked the Government Communication Service, the Amhara regional communication office and the Debre Berhan city administration on Wednesday to confirm or deny the claims. Mereja did not find reports on the fighting from international news agencies.
A statement in the name of the AFNM’s Asaminew Command was shared on X by the Amhara Capacity Building Institute (@ACBI_Official) at 7:24 AM ET. It said the command “has taken control of three district capitals in the Southern Front.” It named them as Mehal Meda, the capital of Menz Gera Midir woreda; Wegere, the capital of Menz Lalo Midir; and Zemero, the capital of Menz Keya Gabriel. Fano had claimed Zemero earlier on Wednesday, as Mereja reported.
Mulugeta Anberber of Ethio 251 Media posted a longer list of seven towns. He said the command took them on Wednesday: Zemero, Rema, Wegere, Meragna, Jiru, Merhabete Kolash and Mehal Meda. He wrote that more than 100 government soldiers had been captured. Later in the day, he said Fano fighters had seized a truck loaded with weapons in the Mida and Rema area of Merhabete.
Mulugeta also said government troops were fleeing Aliyu Amba in Ankober woreda, and he wrote, “Let’s meet for breakfast in Ankober.” In another post, he said 15 soldiers who had deserted the army in Debre Sina had surrendered to the command. A later list posted by ACBI added Ancheqorer and Ankober Aliyu Amba to the towns Fano says it took. None of these claims had been independently verified.
Thomas van Linge, a freelance journalist and researcher who reports on wars, wrote at 7:11 AM ET that “Fano rebels have captured the town of Mehal Meda.” He posted a photo of about ten armed men in front of the hospital gate, together with a map. The gate’s sign reads “Mehal Meda General Hospital” in Amharic and English.
Two geolocation accounts later checked the location. Pythafix said it used frames from a TikTok video to place the fighters “in front of the hospital in the town of Mehal Meda.” Zaryon OSINT, which describes itself as a senior geolocator for the Faytuks Network, matched the scene with satellite images. It wrote that “FANO forces have seized control of Mehal Meda” and that “Fighters were photographed in front of the local hospital.” Both gave the same coordinates in the town. The geolocation shows where the photos were taken, but not when.
War Noir, an independent weapons and conflict researcher, posted a video and wrote that the AFNM “captured ‘Mehal Meda’ and ‘Zemero’ in Amhara Region from Ethiopian Army (ENDF).” War Noir added, “Most of the FANO fighters appears to be armed with KL-103 / AZ-7,62 assault rifles (which were seized from ENDF).” DNE Africa, the Africa news site of the Cairo-based Daily News Egypt, also reported that the AFNM “has captured the town of Mehal Meda.” It said this happened “as the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) struggles to repel rebel offensives across the region.”
Mehal Meda is the seat of Menz Gera Midir woreda, in the highlands of the North Shewa zone of Amhara region. Fano has been fighting federal forces in Amhara since 2023. The Amhara regional communication office has not mentioned the fighting on its X account. On October 3, it posted photos of a wheat farm in Menz Gera Midir woreda.
The Amhara Association of America (AAA), a non-profit group in North Carolina that documents rights violations, reported earlier fighting in Menz. In its weekly report for September 28 to October 4, AAA said Fano attacked government forces near Tole kebele in Menz Lalo Midir on September 28. AAA said the attack came after government forces moved from Wegere to Tole “as part of a military conscription operation targeting local youths.” It reported more fighting in the same woreda from September 29 to October 3. AAA said government forces brought mechanized reinforcements from Debre Berhan, and that wounded soldiers were taken to Molale Hospital.
The same report said Fano fighters attacked government forces around Armeniya town in Tarmaber woreda on September 30. It also described a September 28 night attack in Fiche, in the North Shewa zone of Oromia region. AAA gave casualty figures for these clashes, and Mereja could not verify them.
On September 29, Umut Çağrı Sarı, a writer who covers Horn of Africa politics, wrote that Fano took the Birbira and Qori-Meda lines in North Shewa. He said Fano attacked a government convoy on the Chefa-Ataye highway, “killing several personnel including a commander.”
AAA and the journalist Eyerusalem Tesemma reported that six farmers were killed and at least nine others were wounded on September 30 in Antsokiyana Gemza woreda. Eyerusalem said the attack hit farmland in Hagaramariam Muachera kebele. AAA said militias from Artuma Fursi and Dawa Chefa woredas in the neighboring Oromo Special Zone carried out the attack, with support from local officials, and that they looted livestock. Mereja found no government comment on the incident.
The Ethiopian Conflict Map, an X account that tracks the war, posted a thread on Wednesday that was mostly about the fighting in Tigray. It predicted that the AFNM would exploit the vacuum to gain territory and dig in, because the air force would have other priorities.
The US Embassy in Addis Ababa issued a security alert on Wednesday. It told US citizens not to travel to the Amhara, Tigray or Afar regions for any reason, according to Natna News. In Debre Berhan, displaced people living in camps face worsening shortages of food, medicine and health care as aid groups withdraw, Addis Standard reported on Tuesday.
Sources:
- Amhara Capacity Building Institute on X (AFNM statement)
- Amhara Capacity Building Institute on X (later list of towns)
- Mulugeta Anberber on X (seven towns)
- Mulugeta Anberber on X (soldiers captured)
- Mulugeta Anberber on X (Merhabete)
- Mulugeta Anberber on X (Ankober)
- Mulugeta Anberber on X (Debre Sina)
- Thomas van Linge on X
- Pythafix on X (geolocation)
- Zaryon OSINT on X (geolocation)
- War Noir on X
- DNE Africa on X
- Amhara Association of America weekly report
- Umut Çağrı Sarı on X
- Eyerusalem Tesemma on X
- Amhara Communications on X (Menz Gera Midir wheat farm)
- The Ethiopian Conflict Map on X
- Natna News (US Embassy alert)
- US Embassy Addis Ababa security alert
- Addis Standard on X (Debre Berhan IDPs)