Ethiopia's army has increasingly turned to drones such as this Bayraktar TB2. Photo courtesy of Anadolu Agency
Amhara, Ethiopia's second most populous with some 23 million people, has been gripped by an insurgency since April 2023 after the federal government tried to disarm local ethnic militia, the Fano.
The army regularly carries out drone strikes, but the attack on January 15 in the Waghemira area hit a pro-government camp, the local official told AFP by phone, requesting anonymity.
The army told officials the following day that it had been a "mistake" even though the drone had been over the camp for some time before the strike, he added.
"I immediately saw smoke and fire... I rushed to the scene... I saw body parts of the dead as well as the injured agonising in pain," he said, adding that 36 people were killed instantly and two more died in hospital.
A medic who treated several wounded at the scene, Abebaw Zinabu, told AFP that "more than 40" were killed.
"How can an attack happen by our forces on a well-known camp that has been home to militia members for the past six years, defending the government, fighting in the desert and valleys, away from their family and loved ones?" said the official.
An army spokesperson told AFP they had "not received any information" on the incident.
Ethiopia faces multiple insurgencies, notably in the Amhara and Oromo regions, as well as rising tensions with neighbour Eritrea.
ACLED, a conflict monitor, said in July that at least 669 people have been killed in more than 70 drone strikes in Amhara since 2023.
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