Preliminary Report on the February 19, 2024 Drone Attack in Sasit (Gawna Kebele) of North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia
Updated February 24, 2024
The Amhara Association of America (AAA) has verified that on February 19, 2024, a drone attack launched by Abiy regime forces indiscriminately killed at least 41 civilians and injured 18 others in a place called Sasit, Gawna Kebele, located an estimated 20-km from Sela-Dingay, the administrative center of Mojana Wedera Woreda (North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia). The drone attack primarily targeted a FSR truck carrying civilians. The victims were predominantly family members and close acquaintances who were returning home after attending the baptism of an 80-day-old infant, a tradition in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo faith.
The victims included children, women, the mother of the baptized baby (Emebet Emishaw), and the priests who baptized the baby. There were no Fano combatants present during the attack. All the victims were unarmed civilians, dressed in traditional and ceremonial white cotton clothing for the baptism. Among the killed victims, nine of them were from a single family (household) and the baptized infant was miraculously found alive amidst the carnage. Among the victims identified by AAA’s investigations were young children including 13-year-old Kidus Awraris, 8-year-old Eleni Awraris, and 17-year-old Leul Awraris.
Names of 20 identified victims of the February 19, 2024 drone attack in Sasit, Gawna Kebele (North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia).
*Shewales Desta was killed alongside her children
