Reports from Tigray indicate that another drone strike hit the region late Wednesday night, August 26, extending what appears to be an increasingly frequent series of aerial attacks across several parts of Tigray.
Sources in Tigray told UMD Media that a strike occurred at approximately 10:00 p.m. local time in Gijet town, Saharti district, reportedly hitting the area of the town’s secondary school. Images circulating from the area purport to show damage from the strike. Initial reports also claim casualties, although UMD Media has not yet independently established the number or identities of those reportedly killed or injured.
The reported nighttime strike followed another attack earlier Wednesday. Local sources said a drone struck Tabia Genete in Raya Azebo district at approximately 8:45 a.m., with damage or casualties also reported. Details remained incomplete at the time of publication.
If confirmed, the two August 26 incidents would continue a striking pattern of reported drone attacks occurring almost daily in different parts of Tigray.
Addis Ababa Sources Say Targets Were Military
Sources in Addis Ababa who spoke to UMD Media offered a different account of the purpose of the strikes. According to those sources, the targets of the recent operations were military targets, specifically tanks, rather than civilians or civilian infrastructure. UMD Media has not independently verified either the claimed military targets or whether military equipment was present at the locations struck.
Reports from Tigray have repeatedly described civilian casualties and damage to homes and infrastructure, while the federal government has generally remained publicly silent about the reported strikes.
August 25: Strike Reported at Sur Construction Camp
The latest reports follow a strike on August 25 at approximately 7:30 p.m. in Atsbi district of Tigray’s Eastern Zone.
According to information attributed to the zonal administration, the strike occurred inside a Sur Construction camp at Liga, in the Mebrahtom area of Felege Weyni sub-district. No casualties were initially reported.
Some Tigrayan accounts portrayed the attack on the construction facility as evidence that the federal government was deliberately targeting Tigray’s economic infrastructure. It is particularly relevant in light of the account given to UMD Media by Addis Ababa sources that military equipment, including tanks, constituted the intended targets of recent strikes.
August 24: Strikes Reported in Southern and Northwestern Tigray
The sequence extends at least to August 24.
Local sources reported drone attacks that day in both the South and Northwestern zones of Tigray. They said two strikes were reported in Raya Azebo district, damaging civilian property and an irrigation facility, while another strike in Endabaguna district reportedly damaged civilian residences. Federal authorities and the Ethiopian National Defence Forces had not commented on those reports.
Another local report similarly placed an August 24 strike at Genete in Raya Azebo and another at Endabaguna, although the extent of casualties and damage could not immediately be independently established.
The reported chronology therefore suggests aerial activity on August 24, August 25 and twice on August 26.
Different Media Silences Raise Questions
Another notable feature of Wednesday’s reported attacks is how information about them has circulated.
Tigray Television and Dimtsi Weyane, the regional state and TPLF-affiliated media outlets that have extensively covered earlier drone and air strikes, had not reported Wednesday’s incidents at the time UMD Media reviewed their coverage.
However, individual activists and journalists associated with the TPLF and its media network did circulate information and images concerning the reported strikes. The reason for the difference is not immediately clear.
On the federal side, state media have likewise not provided regular reporting or operational explanations regarding the series of drone strikes reported in Tigray since the signing of the Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in November 2022.
The result is an increasingly serious information gap: reports of strikes, casualties and destruction circulate rapidly through local officials, activists and social media, while authoritative information about targets, weapons, operational objectives and casualty assessments remains scarce. That environment makes misinformation possible from all sides and leaves civilians unable to independently assess what is happening around them.
Recent Strikes Have Already Caused Documented Civilian Injuries
The current reports follow several attacks earlier in August.
On August 20, a drone strike hit the Daero residential area of Mekelle. Medical sources at Ayder Specialized Hospital reported at least 13 injured people, including children, with several seriously wounded. Residents also reported damage to homes.
Earlier strikes were also reported near Dandera on August 18 and in southern Tigray earlier in the month. The accumulation of incidents has increased fears that the fragile post-Pretoria security arrangement is deteriorating.
Strikes Coincide With Obasanjo’s Return to Mekelle
The timing is particularly significant because the reported August 24-26 strikes coincide with a renewed diplomatic effort by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the African Union High Representative for the Horn of Africa.
Obasanjo travelled to Mekelle on August 24 and met Tigray’s leadership as tensions between Addis Ababa and Mekelle continued to rise.
Tigray’s leadership subsequently said the visit produced no new proposal or tangible progress toward negotiations with the federal government.
The United States, however, welcomed Obasanjo’s renewed engagement. U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Ervin Massinga stressed the importance of compromise and addressing the humanitarian situation rather than returning to conflict.
On August 26, the European Union delegations to Ethiopia and the African Union, together with European diplomatic missions and the embassies of Canada, Norway and the United Kingdom, issued a joint statement saying they were following developments in northern Ethiopia "with great concern." They urged all parties to engage constructively and in good faith in implementing the Permanent Cessation of Hostilities Agreement and specifically welcomed Obasanjo’s recent meetings in Addis Ababa and Mekelle.
The diplomatic missions warned that renewed military confrontation would be devastating for a region already facing severe humanitarian needs.
From Intermittent Strikes to an Emerging Pattern
The significance of the latest reports is therefore not any single strike in isolation.
The concern is the frequency and geographic spread of the attacks.
Reported drone strikes have occurred across southern, eastern, northwestern and central Tigray during August. Some have reportedly hit residential areas and caused documented civilian injuries; other locations may, according to UMD Media’s Addis Ababa sources, have contained military assets.
Drone strikes and military confrontations have become substantially more frequent in August, precisely as diplomatic actors are attempting to prevent the post-Pretoria crisis from developing into another full-scale war.
The reported strikes of August 24-26 are especially concerning because they occurred immediately around Obasanjo’s renewed mediation effort in Mekelle.
Whether the timing is connected cannot presently be established. But the contrast is stark: while diplomats are attempting to revive dialogue, military activity on the ground and in the air appears to be accelerating.
Originally published on UMD Media Facebook on 2026-08-26T09:00:00-06:00. Source: https://www.facebook.com/getachew.UMDMedia