![Stone and thatch houses in the Amhara highlands between Weldiya and Lalibela, January 2014 (Ji-Elle, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) [file photo]](https://i0.wp.com/mereja.com/index/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/amhara-highlands-file.jpg?resize=780%2C585&ssl=1)
Stone and thatch houses in the Amhara highlands between Weldiya and Lalibela, January 15, 2014 (Ji-Elle, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) [file photo]
Residents told DW Amharic that fighting between Ethiopian government forces and Amhara Fano fighters has intensified over the past two weeks in South Wollo, North Wollo and Shewa zones.
DW reported on Tuesday that the clashes have been reported in Borena woreda towns including Mehal Sayint, Wegdi, Jama and Degaga, and in Ambassel woreda. From Monday afternoon, residents said the fighting reached Wegeltena town in Delanta woreda. DW did not publish the residents’ full names.
One Wegeltena resident told DW the fighting began around 3 or 4 p.m. on Monday and continued, with pauses when fighters rested. The resident said there was fighting at night from about 8:30 p.m., and that people who tried to leave toward the countryside faced risk from stray rounds. Another resident said fighters told people to leave town, that civilians were wounded by stray bullets in the first clashes, and that a ZU-23 anti-aircraft gun made it hard for one side to close in. A third resident said a drone fell on a pool house without casualties because no one was nearby, and that six civilians were wounded near Kidane Mihret and around a camp area. By the time DW spoke with another resident, the shooting had eased for a while after the night fighting.
On X, the weapons researcher War Noir posted video on Tuesday night of what the account said were Amhara Fano National Movement fighters using FPV kamikaze drones. War Noir said the drones carried RPG-style warheads and were used against ENDF positions in Kewet, Amhara Region. War Noir’s bio describes the account as an independent weapons and conflicts researcher and a co-founder of MilitantWire. The footage has not been independently verified.
The Horn African Guy account posted a war update on Tuesday that said a district police commander in the Amhara region had been killed amid escalating fighting. The update also said Amhara Fano leaders were holding a public meeting in recently taken parts of South Wollo to introduce new local administrators. The Borkena account @zborkena also linked an Amharic video item that named the killing of a Wollo police commander among other headlines. Those social posts cite local reporting and have not been confirmed by the Amhara regional communication office.
Alem Girma, posting in Amharic from an Ethiopia-based account, quoted Asrar Maru of the Amhara Fano National Movement public relations office. Asrar said there is no military deployment agreement with other forces and that military integration work has not been done. Girma also raised questions about reports that some Wollo Fano fighters were present around Adigrat and Wukro under foreign command. Those claims circulate on social media and remain unverified.
The U.S. Embassy security alert of October 12 already tells Americans not to travel to Amhara, including Lalibela. The British Foreign Office (FCDO) advises against all travel to all of Amhara regional state because of conflict involving Fano forces and the Ethiopian authorities, according to its Ethiopia travel advice.
The Wegeltena accounts describe civilians leaving town under pressure, night fighting and at least one drone incident that caused no deaths. Federal and regional officials have not yet answered the DW resident reports in the story DW published.
Duke of Shewa, an X account, posted on October 12 that Fano fighters had “shut down the second drone in North shewa.” The post included a photo. Like other social claims from the Amhara front, it had not been confirmed by federal or regional officials, and Mereja could not independently verify it.
The fighting is part of a wider Amhara conflict that has run since 2023.
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