Several mass graves have been uncovered in Kombolcha in northeast Ethiopia days after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces were forced to withdraw from the city.
Ahmed Yesuf, Deputy Mayor of the city told local media Wednesday that “many civilians were summarily executed in a ruthless manner in our city”.
There are also those whose whereabouts remain unknown.
The mass graves are mostly found in educational institutions.
Agricultural college, Kalu Vocational and technical college and the Kombolcha technical College are some of the places where there are mass graves, according to eyewitness accounts cited by the source.
Details of the mass graves are to be investigated and made public, he added.
According to State Walta Information one of the mass graves was uncovered in the premises of a technical college in the city.
It said that reporters have observed a mass grave and a grader that was used to prepare it.
Ditches prepared for additional mass graves are also discovered.
There had been reports of execution of civilians in Kombolcha soon after the TPLF forces took control of it at the end of October.
The TPLF forces have carried out multiple massacres against civilians in other parts of Amhara region and in Afar region too, reports say.
Apart from the mass killings, the city, known for being one of Ethiopia’s industrial hubs has been looted allegedly by TPLF forces.
As many as 800 containers with looted items are said to have been transported to Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region, according to the sources.
There are also reports that the TPLF used UN trucks, which are meant to deliver aid, to transport the looted items.
It has the advantage of not being targeted by the Ethiopian Air Force.
MG/as/APA