Wreckage of a drone marked S-355, in a photo posted on X by AfriMEOSINT on October 9, 2026, which said the drone was reportedly launched by the ENDF and brought down by Fano. Mulugeta Anberber of Ethio 251 Media said it came down in Menz. Mereja could not independently verify where or when the photo was taken. (Photo: AfriMEOSINT via X)
Residents of Mehal Meda told DW Amharic that a ninth-grade student and a deacon were among the people killed in fighting between federal forces and Fano in the Menz area of Shewa this week.
DW Amharic reported on Thursday that residents of Mehal Meda, Zemero and Molale described heavy fighting on Wednesday and said civilians had been killed and hurt, while Mulugeta Anberber of Ethio 251 Media and other accounts on X said on Friday that Fano fighters had brought down a government drone in Menz. The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), the federal Gov’t and the Amhara regional administration had not commented on the fighting by Friday morning, and DW said its efforts to reach local officials were not successful.
The clashes took place on the day that residents told Mereja the Shewa Fano Asaminew Command had captured Mehal Meda, Wegere, Zemero, Mida and Jiru. A resident of Zemero, who asked DW not to be named, said the fighting reached all four parts of the area known as Menz. “Yesterday in Menz the whole day was an invasion,” the resident said. “Menz Keya and Menz Mehal Meda were a bit worse. Many lives were lost.”
A resident of Mehal Meda told DW that the fighting began at about 5 in the morning and that armed fighters entered the town at about 10 AM, and that the clashes had not stopped. “A war between two brothers is hard,” the resident said. “Our Ethiopian blood is one, and because both have one blood, it was a big war.”
Residents told DW that two civilians died in Mehal Meda, one of them a ninth-grade student. Another resident said civilians were not targeted on purpose but were hit by stray bullets. “How many died? One, two, about three people. One ninth-grade student died. A deacon died,” the resident said, adding that the town had since gone quiet. One resident said people were too afraid to go outside to see who had been hurt. “Earlier people were crying out, and now you do not know who is who. You do not go out because you fear for yourself, but there is mourning, and we hear it outside,” the resident said. Another person told DW that there was news of death “everywhere” and that “there is no number.” DW also reported that residents of Mekane Selam, a town in South Wollo that has seen recent fighting, heard heavy weapons fire early on Wednesday from the town toward the countryside, and that the town was calm afterwards.
On Thursday, Kenya Axis summarized on X a Fano statement on the southern front of North Shewa that claimed much wider gains. It wrote that Fano claimed control of Mehal Meda, Zemero, Wegere, Meragna, Rema, Jiru, Ancheqorer, Jema, Kolash and Aliyu Amba, and that it said 520 ENDF troops had been captured “along with 1,575 small arms, heavy machine guns, sniper rifles and large quantities of ammunition.” None of these figures had been independently verified.
On Friday morning, Mulugeta Anberber of Ethio 251 Media posted photos of drone wreckage and wrote in Amharic that the Asaminew Command had destroyed a “drone of the regime” that was hit and crashed in Anaz kebele in Menz. He wrote that an attempted air strike toward Mehal Meda and Zemero had failed.
Rich Tedd, who runs the open-source account AfriMEOSINT, posted two videos on Friday. He wrote that one showed a YIHA-III loitering munition that ENDF troops captured from Tigrayan forces, and that the other showed “the same type of drone, carrying the serial marking S-355,” which “was reportedly launched by the ENDF and brought down by FANO force.” The same S-355 marking can be seen on the wreckage in the photos Mulugeta posted. Umut Çağrı Sarı, a writer who covers Horn of Africa politics, wrote that local sources and “field command units” identified the drone as a Yiha-3 kamikaze drone that the Gov’t bought from Pakistan. Kenya Axis said the same identification “remains unverified.” The journalist Eyerusalem Tesemma wrote that “visual evidence has confirmed that a regime-operated drone was shot down and crashed by Fano forces in the Naz lowland area of Menz.” The ENDF has not said whether it lost a drone.
Sarı and other X accounts also shared a video on Friday that they said shows Fano fighters destroying portraits of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Amhara regional president Arega Kebede inside the mayor’s office in Mehal Meda. Mereja could not confirm where or when the video was filmed.
Mulugeta also claimed gains further north. He wrote on Thursday that Fano’s Menelik 1st Command had taken full control of Weyn Amba town in Legehida woreda and of Kelala woreda in Wollo. Those claims had not been independently verified either.
Fano has fought federal forces in the Amhara region since 2023. The new fighting in Shewa comes as the federal army is also fighting in Tigray.
Sources:
- DW Amharic (Menz fighting)
- Mereja (Fano captures Mehal Meda and other Shewa towns)
- Kenya Axis on X (Fano statement)
- Mulugeta Anberber on X (drone)
- AfriMEOSINT on X (S-355 drone)
- Umut Çağrı Sarı on X (drone)
- Kenya Axis on X (drone)
- Eyerusalem Tesemma on X
- Umut Çağrı Sarı on X (mayor’s office video)
- Mulugeta Anberber on X (Weyn Amba)
- Mulugeta Anberber on X (Kelala)