The Amhara regional capital, Bahir Dar came under fire a few days after Ethiopia's dictator Abiy Ahmed claimed to have squashed Amhara rebels.
On the eve of Ethiopia's Adwa Victory day, Fano rebels in the Amhara region storm regional capital Bahir Dar killing at least 158 soldiers loyal to Abiy Ahmed's mercenary army.
On the night of Thursday and Friday morning (3/1/2024), the rebels mainly from the powerful Gojjam and South Gondar commands surrounded the city from five directions, eyewitnesses say. The rebels were recording themselves as they entered the city shooting heavy weaponry. (see below video)
The rebels put the city under siege for over five hours. Abiy Ahmed's mercenary army that has Africa's most advanced weapons including Turkish Akinci drones could not do anything to stop the advancing rebels.
At the end of the day, hospital sources said at least 158 bodies of Abiy Ahmed mercenaries were recovered. Several other hundreds were injured. Fano forces do not get medical treatment at known medical centers and it's hard to estimate their causalities but their hit and run attacks have been cost effective for them.
Fano rebels are based in five provinces of Ethiopia that are ethnic-Amhara dominated. Gojjam, Wollo, Shoa, Gondar and Wollega are where the rebels base. Given the Amhara people inhabit all Ethiopian provinces, the rebels have sympathy in every corner of the east African country.
The Gojjam Fano forces are much more organized than the other factions. The political wing is led by a young rebel leader called Zemene Kassie. The military wing has several former Ethiopian service men including the commander, Colonel Zinabu Wolde.
The attack against Bahir Dar was executed in collaboration with another powerful faction from the neighboring Gondar province commanded by another former Ethiopian service man called Colonel Wubante Abate.
The rebels say they are fighting against what they call #AmharaGenocide that has been going on under successive communist ethno-fascist regimes since the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974.
Over a million Ethiopians have been killed in the civil war and famine since Abiy Ahmed and his Oromo military men came to power in 2018.
Abiy vows to keep the fight on despite tens of thousands of his mercenaries being killed in Tigray and Amhara.