At least 26 people were killed yesterday in an airstrike in Finote Salaam, in the Ethiopian state of Amhara, where fighting is raging, a hospital official and a resident told AFP on Monday.

“22 bodies were brought to the hospital,” while “four other people who were seriously injured succumbed shortly after their arrival,” said the health facility official in this community in the southern part of the state, about 170 kilometers from the capital Bahir Dar. .

“So far, we have admitted 55 injured, of which more than 40 patients are in serious condition,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for his safety.

A resident, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said he “personally helped bury 30 victims” and “transported many injured” to the hospital.

It is the deadliest airstrike on record in Amhara since fighting broke out in early July between the federal army and Amhara tribal fighters, including the nationalist FANO militia, in Ethiopia’s second most populous state.

Ethiopia’s federal government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared a state of emergency on August 4 due to a resurgence of violence that threatens to reignite northern Ethiopia just nine months after the end of a bloody conflict in neighboring Tigray state. The measure was ratified yesterday Monday by the federal parliament.

When he arrived, “about 15 minutes after the airstrike”, the resident who spoke to AFP said he saw “a medium-sized cargo vehicle destroyed” and “bodies strewn everywhere”.

The attack, on Sunday morning, hit “the center of the city”, according to him.

“I heard a loud aircraft sound before the attack,” he added.

According to the official at the hospital, who said he “heard the sound of a loud explosion (…) around 09:30-10:00”, some victims reported a “drone attack”.

“All the dead and injured who were taken to the hospital were wearing comfortable, civilian clothes, traditional Sunday costumes” and among them are “from a 13-year-old child to the elderly,” added the same source.

Yesterday Monday the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (ECHR), a public authority, independent from a legal point of view, expressed its “serious concern” about the situation in Amhara.

He underlined that he “received reliable information that speaks of strikes and shelling (…) with numerous casualties among civilians” in three cities, including Finot Salaam.

The account of the fighting is unknown in the state, where access is limited, making any attempt at independent verification in the field virtually impossible.