Accounts on X say drone strike killed four at Finarwa in Tigray as fighter jets fly low over Mekelle


A fighter jet flies low against an orange morning sky above rooftops in Mekelle, Tigray, on October 21, 2026

A fighter jet flies low over Mekelle early on October 21, 2026, in an image posted by AfriMEOSINT, which identified it as an Ethiopian Su-27 or Su-30. Photo: AfriMEOSINT via X

A drone strike on a livestock truck in Finarwa, in Tigray's Samre woreda, killed four people and wounded six overnight, according to local accounts on X, as fighter jets flew over Mekelle.

The first account Mereja found came from kbrom (@KbromKbromywf), who wrote in Tigrinya on Wednesday morning that the strike happened around midnight in Nebar Hadnet tabia, in the small town of Finarwa, and that "4 people died and 6 were injured and taken to hospital," in Mereja's translation. He wrote that the victims were young civilians. Later posts gave more detail. Azmera Gebrekidan (@Silas_GA), citing "TPM and local sources," wrote that the strike "hit a commercial truck carrying livestock," and the account Red Sea Axis wrote that local reports said those killed were the driver and three youths who were helping to load the animals.

The accounts differ on some points. Adey Welela (@AbadiTesfay), whose X profile describes her as an advocate for human rights, justice and peace, wrote that the strike killed "three children" at 10 PM on Tuesday, October 20. A Tigrinya-language Facebook page named DW International TV, whose owners Mereja could not identify, posted the same time and wrote that people "including three children" were killed, in Mereja's translation. Abrha (@Abrha_MG) wrote that an Isuzu truck carrying sheep and goats was hit "today morning." Mulugeta Anberber, writing in Amharic, said a drone hit a rural home in Samre woreda and killed four civilians, and he blamed "the Prosperity regime" for the attack. Photos shared with several of the posts show a damaged truck and dead animals, but Mereja could not verify when or where they were taken.

Mulugeta Anberber also reported two other strikes on Wednesday, which Mereja could not confirm. He wrote that at 7:55 in the Ethiopian clock, which is 1:55 PM local time, a strike at Gerealta Tsigereda hit a grain warehouse of the Relief Society of Tigray (REST), and that a drone strike on a home in northwestern Tigray killed two people and severed the leg of a woman who had recently given birth. The account Latest Researches and News, which describes itself as a conflict reporter, separately wrote that repeated drone strikes on a health post at Medebay Terer, in Tahtay Koraro, "killed and seriously injured members of a family." The federal government and the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) have not commented publicly on any of these reports.

Mereja has asked the Government Communication Service to confirm or deny the reported drone strike in Finarwa and the other strikes, with a deadline of noon ET on Thursday, and will update this story with any response.

Early on Wednesday, the open-source intelligence account AfriMEOSINT posted a video and photo and wrote that ENDF "Su-27/30 fighter jets were seen flying low over Mekelle, Tigray's capital, early this morning." The account The Horn African Guy wrote that the jets "circled the city early this morning, frightening residents," and that the Air Force had said the jets were conducting reconnaissance, a statement Mereja has not found on any official channel. Hanna Belai wrote on X, using the Mekelle hashtag, "In 2020, I was stuck in war. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Years later, the sound of military jets still triggers that survival instinct."

The same account, The Horn African Guy, wrote that Tigrayan forces had launched "a major counterattack to retake Semema," with fighting "right at the IDP camp," that Ethiopian forces were reportedly airlifting reinforcements into Mekelle Airport, and that the army had banned evening vehicle movement in Adwa, Aksum and Shire. The Ethiopian Conflict Map, an account that tracks the war, wrote on Tuesday that the ENDF had entered Semema from the Aksum area. Mereja could not independently confirm the fighting around Semema or the curfew.

DW Amharic, in its live blog on the war, reported that residents of Abergele woreda in Wag Hemra said Agew Shengo and Tigrayan forces had come back and retaken the woreda capital after federal forces had earlier pushed them out, and that the fighting was heavy. DW also reported, citing eyewitnesses, that Eritrean soldiers were still stationed in some Ethiopian border areas. In a separate DW report from Tigray, one Mekelle resident said Ethiopian Airlines flights had continued and that life "seemed to have returned to normal," while another woman said the fighting had moved from Tembien toward Dejena.

The reports came a day after Brig. Gen. Gebregziabher Beyene, who heads security in the federal trustee administration for Tigray and commands the Tigray Peace Force, which works with the federal government, told AFP in Mekelle that leaders of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) had crossed into Eritrea with large amounts of weapons and medicine, according to DW. Mereja reported on Sunday on a similar claim. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel rejected the general's statement, and TPLF deputy chairman Amanuel Assefa told AFP that the leadership "is working inside Tigray," DW reported.

Martin Plaut, whose X profile lists him as a fellow of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, wrote on his blog on Wednesday that the war appeared to be entering a "phase three," in which "Tigray launches counter attacks, targeting Ethiopian supply lines and wearing their military down," as it did in the 2020 to 2022 war. Analysts who spoke to BBC Amharic disagreed about what the TPLF's fast withdrawal from Tigray's towns means. Bisrat Amare, a former senior TPLF official who has taught in the United States, told the BBC that the movement had broken apart and that guerrilla war "will not work by any miracle," while Dr. Dereje Hawas, a former military officer under the Derg, said the retreat could also have followed a fast, coordinated military plan, according to BBC Amharic. Translations from Tigrinya and Amharic are Mereja's.

The federal government says the war ended with the TPLF's defeat and has set up a six-month trustee administration for Tigray, while the TPLF says its withdrawal was a strategic decision and that it will continue the fight in its own way, BBC Amharic reported.

Sources

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