{"id":837678,"date":"2026-10-12T14:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T18:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=837678"},"modified":"2026-10-12T14:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T18:10:00","slug":"federal-forces-enter-adwa-axum-tadesse-werede-freed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/837678","title":{"rendered":"Federal forces enter Adwa without resistance as residents report looting, while OSINT accounts say Axum has fallen and Jawar Mohammed says Gen. Tadesse Werede has been freed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Federal<\/p>\n

Federal forces stand near the Obelisk of Axum in a photo Zaryon OSINT posted on X on October 12, 2026, saying the image confirmed Axum’s capture and geolocating it to 14.13204, 38.71939. Mereja could not independently verify the image. (Photo: Zaryon OSINT via X)<\/em><\/p>\n

Ethiopian federal forces and allied fighters entered Adwa in northern Tigray without resistance after fighters loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) withdrew, residents told AFP.<\/p>\n

Adwa is one of Tigray’s most populated towns and sits about 40 kilometers from the Eritrean border. Residents said government forces and an allied militia moved into the town on Sunday after TPLF fighters left a day earlier. One resident, identified only as Aferwerki, said shops stayed closed after government institutions, including Adwa Hospital, were reportedly looted overnight. Another resident said roads were largely empty because people feared theft, and that federal forces had entered Adwa but had not yet reached the town center.<\/p>\n

The advance comes as federal forces push TPLF fighters toward the Eritrean frontier after fighting resumed in late September. Federal forces earlier took Mekelle after the TPLF withdrew, and Ethiopian Airlines flights to the regional capital restarted on Sunday. Telecommunications have also been restored, AFP reported through News Central TV. A foreign security source told AFP that between 5,000 and 8,000 Eritrean soldiers were believed to be present in Tigray. Ethiopia and Eritrea exchanged accusations last week, and Eritrea asked the UN Security Council to take what it called “deterrent measures.”<\/p>\n

Reports on Monday also said Axum had fallen. Zaryon OSINT, a geolocator with Faytuks Network who covers Ethiopia among other conflicts, posted photos of federal forces at the Obelisk of Axum and said the images confirmed the city’s capture by the Ethiopian National Defense Force and the Tigray Peace Force, with a geolocation of 14.13204, 38.71939. The Ethiopian Conflict Map, an account that tracks the war in real time, wrote that all major cities in Tigray, including Axum and Adwa, were now under ENDF control. Kenya Axis reported that federal forces and their Tigray Peace Force allies had taken Axum after a TPLF withdrawal, and that images circulating online showed soldiers near the Obelisk. APA News said residents in Shire told it that pro-government forces entered that city on Friday afternoon and met no resistance, that shops were closed, and that residents had organized to guard neighborhoods against looting. APA said four people were killed in exchanges of fire related to looting, and that rebels were retreating toward Sheraro near the Eritrean border.<\/p>\n

Jawar Mohammed, a member of the Oromo Federalist Congress, wrote on X on Monday that he had been informed General Tadesse Werede and other officers had been freed and were now in the hands of ENDF and Tigray Peace Force units and were reportedly safe. He said the officers had been arrested by the TPLF and later moved out of Mekelle. Separate, unverified reports on X said senior TPLF or Tigray Defense Force commanders had been captured near Enticho on the Adwa direction. Kenya Axis said reports that five senior TPLF military commanders had been detained near Enticho, including a deputy army commander and several Second Corps officers, remained unverified.<\/p>\n

Federal officials who returned to Tigray on Sunday continued to speak about the next phase of administration. Getachew Reda, who advises Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on East African affairs and who said on Saturday that a federal command post would run Tigray for six months before an election, wrote in Tigrinya that he was back in Mekelle “after 18 months” and that he would next reach Adwa, Axum, Shire, Maychew, Alamata and other Tigray towns and countryside, BBC Amharic reported. Ambassador Redwan Hussien, director of the National Intelligence and Security Service, wrote that he saw a deep thirst for peace, a desire to be heard, and a longing for real understanding and reconciliation in Mekelle and Adigrat. Dr. Abraham Belay, Ethiopia’s nuclear power commissioner, wrote that people thirsty for peace had been visited and that the ENDF showed “popular character and disciplinary excellence,” BBC Amharic reported.<\/p>\n

Rich Tedd, an open-source intelligence analyst who covers conflicts mainly in East Africa on the AfriMEOSINT account, wrote on Sunday that ENDF drones struck Egela High School in Gerhu Sirnay, in north-central Tigray near the Eritrean border, and shared footage of smoke rising from the school after the strike. He gave coordinates of 14.49206, 39.16955. Mereja could not verify the strike. The reports of civilian harm at schools have not drawn a public comment from the Ethiopian Gov’t by Monday morning. The New Humanitarian wrote on Monday that federal forces and the Tigray Peace Force, backed by intense drone strikes, had captured Axum and Adigrat vacated by the TPLF, and that the TPLF had announced a switch to “mobile warfare.”<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n