{"id":838965,"date":"2026-11-13T04:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=838965"},"modified":"2026-11-13T04:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T09:30:00","slug":"witnesses-tell-bbc-amharic-a-drone-strike-killed-36-displaced-people-walking-toward-amhara-through-kiremu-in-western-oromia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/838965","title":{"rendered":"Witnesses tell BBC Amharic a drone strike killed 36 displaced people walking toward Amhara through Kiremu in western Oromia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nekemte, the main town of the former East Wollega zone in western Oromia, in an aerial file photograph from May 2019; the strike described in this report took place in rural Kiremu district [file photo]. Credit: Hunde Gemechu via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).<\/em><\/p>\n

Five witnesses told BBC Amharic that a drone strike in Kiremu district of western Oromia killed 36 displaced people, including eight young children, as they walked at night toward the Amhara region.<\/p>\n

The witnesses, who asked not to be named for their safety, said the strike hit on Friday, November 6, at around 10 PM, at a place called Wodesa Dima in Kiremu, a district of the former East Wollega zone. They said the victims had fled Gida Ayana district, where insecurity has continued since August, and were crossing rural villages on foot toward Gojjam in Amhara in a group of 200 to 300 people that included children and elderly people.<\/p>\n

One resident said the group was walking with flashlights when they saw a drone circling and urged each other to switch the lights off, before it suddenly fired. Another said the drone struck twice, and that the dead included eight children, 17 mothers, five of them pregnant, three blind monks and three men over 60. A man who said he lost eight relatives, among them his brother, his brother’s wife and two of their children, said he was caring for four wounded survivors who had not received proper treatment.<\/p>\n

Residents said the dead were buried together near Wodesa Dima the next morning, because people feared that a gathering at a church would draw another strike. One said a drone was still circling over the area the night before he spoke to BBC Amharic. The broadcaster said it could not independently confirm the toll, and that the federal army and the Oromia regional government did not answer its calls and written questions.<\/p>\n

Accounts on X that campaign on Amhara issues, including @AmharaHQ, repeated the toll of 36 on Thursday and said two girls survived with severe burns and still lacked medical care, a claim Mereja Media could not verify. The Amhara Fano National Movement listed a drone strike in Kiremu in a statement on attacks on civilians<\/a> that Mereja Media reported on Wednesday, though it gave the date as November 7 and named a place called Sadma.<\/p>\n

Western Oromia has many armed actors, including the Oromo Liberation Army, local militias, government linked forces and fighters operating under the Fano name. Residents also told BBC Afaan Oromoo about recent attacks by Fano fighters in Kiremu, Abe Dongoro and Gida Ayana, and Hailu Adugna, who heads the Oromia communication bureau, blamed what he called Amharic speaking and Oromo speaking Shene, the government’s name for the Oromo Liberation Army. Residents blame a regional force they call the Gada Commando for attacks on them, but General Hailu Gonfa, the regional president’s security adviser, has told the BBC that no such force exists.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n