On Tuesday afternoon, reports started surfacing on social media that airstrikes were carried out at a small town called Togoga in Degua Tembien. The town is situated just 30 kilometers northwest of Mekelle, the capital of Tigray. Ethiopian air force jets carried out the attacks on the vibrant Edauga selus/‘Tuesday market’ in Togoga, where hundreds of people were trading. The airstrikes occurred almost 33 years to the day of the Hawzien massacre, where the military Junta DERG bombed a marketplace in Hawzien, killing more than 2500 people and injuring thousands more. Witnesses said that around 1 PM, two heavy explosions were heard in the town.
Witnesses and first responders have told various outlets that dozens have been killed, and many more were injured due to the airstrikes. Tuesday’s airstrikes are one of the deadliest recorded attacks against civilians; at least 64 people were killed, and 180 people were injured. Victims also include five children as young as two years old. Addis standard spoke to families who managed to transport injured relatives to Ayder referral hospital. One distressed mother told AS, “a plane came suddenly then launched an attack around us, everything turned into smoke of dusk till we couldn’t tell between dead or alive. I hardly managed to bring my daughter to Mekelle. My daughter is getting medical attention, and I am worried if she is going to survive or not.” A medical director at Ayder confirmed that children were among the victims, as five children arrived at the hospital with one needing urgent abdominal surgery. AS also reported that the victims included priests and street vendors.
After the airstrikes, rescue operations were severely curtailed, mainly due to the blockage imposed at ENDF checkpoints. The main road leading to Togoga with closed by Ethiopian soldiers citing more airstrikes could happen. First responders even gave testimonies on Wednesday that ambulances were turned back at the ENDF checkpoint because “they had been aiding and abetting the TPLF.
On Tuesday afternoon, six ambulances carrying 20 health workers were denied passage, even though the Tigray health bureau had granted them a permit. AP also reported that a red cross ambulance was shot at while trying to reach the scenes of the horrific attack. Medical officials at Ayder hospital in Mekelle corroborated reports of the ENDF blocking ambulances at checkpoints on Wednesday.
Addis standard reported that thirty-two wounded by the airstrikes arrived at Ayder on Wednesday. But there is fear that many of the injured may have lost their lives after ambulances and first responders were denied entry to Togoga. Three have thus far lost their lives due to the obstruction of responders.
The horrific attack on the innocents of Togoga has sparked anger, with one particular politician and Tigray advocate, Hailu Kebede, coming out strongly against the attack. Haile, who himself hails from Togoga, is the foreign affairs head for Salsay woyane Tigray. He wrote, “Not only did they bombard our small town on its vibrant market day and massacre hundreds of Tigrayans, now they have blocked roads and stopped minibuses and Ambulances carrying wounded civilians, who need urgent help.”
Haile also shared a distressing video of the scenes on his Facebook recorded just after the attacks. It is a genuinely horrific video, showing at least five people lying in bloody puddles, all dead. The graphic video shows an elderly gentleman screaming, looking at the bodies of the victims. The man is standing at a threshold of a trashed house; the explosion blew off the whole roof. More people can be seen surrounding the dead, trying to identify them; some do, and they break down in tears.
Ethiopian army spokesperson dismisses attacks as propaganda
A spokesperson for the Ethiopian national defense forces held a press conference on Thursday and admitted that the ENDF had indeed carried out airstrikes in Togoga but rebuffed claims of an attack against civilians at a market. In his presser, the spokesperson told journalists, “our targets were armed rebels in Degua Tembien area, which the fugitive general Megbey led.” Br. General Megbey, a retired ENDF general, gave a much-publicized interview to TMH just last week, seemingly to the dismay of Arat kilo. “The airstrikes targeted rebels in civilians clothing. We had strong Intel that these groups were in those areas.” The ENDF spokesperson denied all witness testimonies of civilian death, instead calling such credible reports propaganda. The spokesperson also added that the airstrikes were a “success.”
International outrage
The US, UN, and the EU have all come out with strong condemnation against the Togoga airstrikes. A joint statement by EU High Representative Borrell and Commissioner Lenarčič on the attacks reads as follows.
The reports on the bombing of a marketplace in the village of Edaga Selus near Togoga in the Dogua Tembien District of the Tigray Region on 22 June are extremely worrying. This is yet another attack adding up to the horrific series of International Humanitarian Law and human rights violations, atrocities, ethnic violence, combined with serious allegations of use of starvation and sexual violence as weapons of conflict.
The EU strongly condemns the deliberate targeting of civilians. This is not justifiable in any terms and goes against International Humanitarian Law. Those atrocities cannot be justified by using the preservation of the territorial integrity of Ethiopia as an argument.
If confirmed, the blocking of ambulances trying to provide medical assistance to the wounded after the bombardment is unacceptable. Such practice constitutes a grave violation of the Geneva Convention and of International Humanitarian Law.
We re-iterate the urgent call for an immediate ceasefire in Tigray and for unrestricted humanitarian access to all those affected by the conflict in the region.
What is happening in Tigray is appalling. It is time for the international community to wake up and take action. The High Representative has put Ethiopia on the agenda of the next Foreign Affairs Council in July to discuss with Member States EU actions in response.
The US released a statement on the Togoga massacre, condemning the attacks using strong words. “We strongly condemn this reprehensible act.” The statement from the US also cited the denial of urgently-needed medical care, calling it “heinous and absolutely unacceptable.” US ambassador to the UN also condemned the attacks, tweeting, “Those responsible for the bombing of a village market in Tigray, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians, must be held accountable.”
The latest rounds in western Media won’t please PM Abiy, as he awaits Monday’s election results. Elections were being held in many regions of Ethiopia, except Tigray, where fighting has intensified in the past few days. As the polls came to a close on Monday, its integrity has been called into question by political rivals and western on-lookers. Abiy will be hoping the situation in Tigray, especially the recent massacre in Togoga, will not dampen his celebrations after an all-but-certain win in the polls.
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