A street in Mekelle, Ethiopia, on July 22, 2013 (MarcD., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) [file photo].
Mewael Gebreegziabher, the 23 year old son of the security chief in Tigray’s federally backed interim administration, has been killed, Tigray police told the BBC, and was buried in Mekelle on Saturday.
Mewael, a 23 year old member of the Tigray Peace Force, was killed on Friday, November 13, the deputy commissioner of the Tigray Police Commission, Colonel Nigus Weldegebriel, confirmed to BBC Tigrinya. He said police had sent investigators to the place where the killing happened. The police have not said whether he was shot or killed another way, and they have not given the location. His father, Brigadier General Gebreegziabher Beyene, who is known as Wedi Antru, leads the Tigray Peace Force, an armed group opposed to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and is chief executive for security and peace in the interim administration.
Tigray Television first said he was killed by TPLF gunmen it called the Raadi group, then said unidentified armed men shot him, and that the attack was at Alasa. The Tigray Peace Force, in a condolence statement, said its member died in a “sudden accident.” Tigray Television said he was buried on Saturday at Enda Mariam Adi Shimdhum in Mekelle, and that regional officials including Assefa Abreha attended. No group has claimed the killing, and the BBC said the TPLF had not issued an official response by Saturday. Many accounts on X blamed fighters loyal to the TPLF. “Mewael was not killed during an active fighting. He was deliberately targeted and killed because of who his father is,” wrote one Tigrayan user, warning that applauding such killings sets a dangerous precedent.
Others disputed that reading. One account said Mewael had recently been accused of killing a civilian after a quarrel at a nightclub and was wanted by federal authorities, adding that it remained unclear who killed him. Another said he was ambushed because he fought alongside the federal army against Tigrayan forces, not because of his father. A third user wrote that some blamed Tigrayan fighters while others pointed to a power struggle inside the Tigray Peace Force. None of these accounts could be verified.
The killing comes as federal forces control Mekelle after weeks of renewed war with the TPLF, and as the army chief accused Eritrea of directing the Tigrayan offensive. Analysts on X warned that targeted killings could deepen divisions among Tigrayans and push the region toward wider conflict.