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The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (ECHR) says at least 600 civilians have been killed in a massacre in the town of Maikadra, a small town located in the western region of Tigray, confirming the killings first reported by the rights group Human Amnesty International.
Two weeks ago, local security forces and an informal group of Tigray youth called “Samri” carried out an attack on the city of Maikadra, the EHRC said in the report. Sources including eyewitnesses, families of the victims and members of a committee formed to bury the dead “estimate that a minimum of 600 have died and say the number is likely to be even higher,” EHRC said.
According to the report, the youth group with the collusion of the retreating local security forces “stabbed, strangled and bludgeoned people of non-Tigrayan ethnic origin, and especially of Amhara and Wolkait origin.” The commission described the incident as “a serious, premeditated and carefully coordinated violation of human rights.”
The commission said “grave human rights violations” can amount to “crimes against humanity and war crimes.” The full scope of the evidence and elements of the crime will be examined in detail in the full report, he said.
The commission also said that although the “Samri”, a group of youth from Tigray were involved in this heinous crime, other residents, who were the Tigrayan themselves, helped several of them survive by protecting them in their homes, churches and farms.
Tigray leader Debretsion Gebremichael has previously denied any responsibility for the killings. He said the allegations were “unfounded” and asked an independent party to investigate the reports.
