Drone strike roils Tigray, revives war fears

A reported drone strike hit the Tekemati area near Sheraro town in northwestern Tigray late Friday, residents and a local official told Addis Standard. The area lies just outside Sheraro, less than two kilometers from the town.

Residents who spoke with Addis Standard said the strike began at around 11:30 p.m. and continued for nearly two hours. Their accounts suggested the attack may have targeted military vehicles moving through the area, though the intended target and any possible casualties have not been officially confirmed. A Sheraro town administration official confirmed the incident but referred questions about casualties and the military unit involved to security authorities.

In a statement, the TPLF’s recently elected regional president accused Ethiopia’s federal government of carrying out the drone strike, saying the attack caused deaths, injuries and property damage among Tigrayan forces. The statement added that the strike took place overnight near Sheraro, in Tigray’s Northwestern Zone, and targeted members of the Tigray army who were carrying out routine duties. It did not provide a casualty toll.

“The Prosperity Party regime has once again carried out a drone attack in Tigray, causing damage to life and property,” the statement said. The statement accused the federal government of violating the Pretoria peace agreement, the African Union-brokered deal signed in November 2022 that ended two years of war between federal forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

“The people of Tigray want peace and democracy,” the statement said, accusing the federal government of responding with “discrimination, siege and blockade, drone attacks and the like.”

Tensions in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have been building for months, but the political and military standoff has sharpened in recent weeks. Ethiopia recently held its seventh national election. The election was endorsed in preliminary statements by African Union and IGAD observer missions. However, the Tigray region was entirely excluded. The National Election Board of Ethiopia said voting would not take place in all 38 constituencies in Tigray. The exclusion followed the earlier deregistration of the TPLF.

The election came amid a deepening rift between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s federal government and Tigray’s political leadership. Abiy recently extended the mandate of the Tigray Interim Administration led by Lieutenant General Tadesse Werede, a move the TPLF rejected as unilateral and contrary to the Pretoria peace agreement. For the TPLF, the federal government’s decision to renew Tadesse’s mandate without consultation has become further evidence that Addis Ababa is trying to reshape Tigray’s political order from outside.

In response, the TPLF announced that it was restoring Tigray’s pre-war governing structures, including the regional council that existed before the conflict. The party also moved to reassert its own leadership, with Debretsion Gebremichael elected as president under the restored arrangement. The decision effectively challenged the authority of the federally recognized interim administration and created competing claims to legitimacy inside Tigray. It also marked an escalation in the post-war power struggle.

The TPLF has accused Abiy’s government of repeatedly breaching the peace deal, including by withholding funds, obstructing the region’s recovery and strangling Tigray’s economy. Tigrayan officials say the region remains economically isolated, with basic services, salaries, reconstruction and the return of displaced people still unresolved years after the formal end of the war. The federal government, however, has accused the TPLF of plotting a new conflict with external adversaries, including Eritrea. Addis Ababa has alleged that TPLF elements and Eritrean authorities are exploring a new alliance against the Ethiopian state, claims both the TPLF and Eritrea have denied.

The dispute has been further complicated by Ethiopia’s deteriorating relations with Eritrea, once Abiy’s key military ally during the war in Tigray. Eritrean troops fought alongside Ethiopian federal forces during the conflict, which killed hundreds of thousands of people. Eritrean forces were widely accused by survivors and rights groups of committing mass atrocities in Tigray, including looting, massacres and conflict-related sexual violence, including systematic rape. But the wartime alliance has since fractured. Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of occupying Ethiopian territory along the border and supporting armed groups, while Eritrea has rejected accusations from Addis Ababa and has grown increasingly alarmed by Abiy’s public statements about Ethiopia’s need for access to the Red Sea.

The regional crisis has also widened beyond Tigray and Eritrea. Ethiopia has recently accused Sudan of supporting anti-Ethiopian forces, including the TPLF, after Sudan alleged that drone attacks on its territory originated from Ethiopia. Addis Ababa has rejected Sudan’s accusations as baseless, while Khartoum has recalled its ambassador.

Reports of troop movements toward Ethiopia’s northern front have also emerged recently. However, the latest drone strike marks the clearest escalation after months of building tension between the federal government and the TPLF.