The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRC) said in a statement issued yesterday that an unknown number of innocent people were killed in a shootout between government security forces and armed forces in the South Wollo Zone on February 3, 2025, while an injured woman was being taken to hospital.

The woman, whose identity was not disclosed in the statement, was injured by stray bullets while returning from a river where she had been injured. In addition to the killings and injuries, EHRC noted that it was able to learn from information gathered from the area that property damage was caused by the use of heavy weapons.

The other area that EHRC focused on in yesterday’s statement was the Southern Ethiopia region. The Esmegu announced that the Zeise community in the region has been suffering from death, physical injury, and property damage for a long time and is still ongoing due to the demand for a special woreda structure.

It called on the federal and Amhara regional governments to pay due attention to the human rights violations being committed against innocent people in the Amhara region and to respect and uphold the right to life of people.