Kobo massacre

The Kobo massacre was an extrajudicial killing event perpetrated by the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) in Kobo district and Kobo town in North Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia during the Tigray War, on 9 September 2021.[1][2]

Kobo massacre
Part of Tigray War
Kobo
LocationKobo, Ethiopia
Coordinates12°11′51.07″N 39°45′9.29″E
Date9 September 2021
Attack type
Massacre
Deaths600 civilians
PerpetratorsTigray Defense Forces

Background
Main article: Tigray War

Massacre

Residents told VOA News that the TDF killed 600 civilians in Kobo in the Amhara Region.[3] According to locals, TDF fighters entered villages in Kobo district on 9 September searching for weapons, but the farmers repelled the soldiers from the villages. As TDF fighters withdrew from the villages to Kobo town, they attacked men and teenage boys who were working their fields in retaliation.[1][2] The vast majority of the massacre's victims were male.[4][5]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) spoke to residents of Kobo town who witnessed 23 civilians summarily executed by the TDF in that town on 9 September in retaliation for attacks by farmers earlier that day.[2][6]

A report by Al Jazeera described it as "the most extensive yet of one of the deadliest known killings of Amhara in the war."[5]

Amnesty International published a report in which witnesses described retaliatory summary executions of over two dozen men and one woman in the town of Kobo. Spatiotemporal satellite imagery analysis corroborated witness testimony that new graves were dug at two church compounds in the town to bury those summarily executed.[7]

The TDF has denied committing atrocities.[1]

Reactions

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission expressed their concern regarding the incident on Twitter:[8][9]

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is alarmed by disturbing reports it is receiving about allegations of deliberate attacks against civilians in Kobo town and surrounding rural towns by TPLF fighters including shelling on civilian areas, house to house search and killings, looting and destruction of civilian infrastructure. While EHRC continues with its investigation, it reiterates its repeated call on the obligation of all parties to the conflict to protect civilians at all times.
— Ethiopian Human Rights Commission

See also

References
  1. "'Then the killing started': Witnesses accuse Tigray fighters". Associated Press. 2021-09-26. Archived from the original on 2021-09-26. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  2. "Ethiopia: Tigray Forces Summarily Execute Civilians". Human Rights Watch. 2021-12-09. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  3. Voice of America (Amharic), 20 September 2022: ቆቦ ውስጥ ስድስት መቶ ሰው እንደተገደለ ነዋሪዎች ተናገሩ Archived 2021-09-21 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "'Then the killing started': Witnesses accuse Tigray fighters". CTVNews. 2021-09-25. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  5. "Witnesses accuse Tigray fighters of Kobo killings". Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  6. Martin Goillandeau. "Tigrayan forces summarily executed dozens of civilians in Ethiopia's Amhara region, HRW says". CNN. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  7. "Ethiopia: Summary killings, rape and looting by Tigrayan forces in Amhara". Amnesty International. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  8. "Ethiopian Human Rights Commission on Twitter: "#Amhara Region: Deliberate attacks against civilians in Kobo #Ethiopia… "". 2021-09-20. Archived from the original on 2021-09-20. Retrieved 2021-10-15.
  9. "Kobo Massacre : Rights group says received reports of civilian massacre by TPLF". Borkena Ethiopian News. 2021-09-21. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
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