The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), in a report published yesterday, Sunday, monitored the air raids launched by the Ethiopian government forces on the Tigray region, using drones (Drones) in recent months, indicating results Independent investigations and expert opinions on the type and origin of these aircraft.
Dozens have been killed in air strikes in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia in recent months, and armed drones (Drones) have been used in some of those attacks, amid growing concern about civilian casualties.
• An attack on a camp for the displaced
An air attack on a camp for the displaced in Dedepet, Tigray region, on January 8, killed more than 50 people and injured more than 100 others.
Photos provided by aid workers to Politico after the raid led investigators to believe that one of the weapons used in this attack may have been a missile fired from a Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone.
The BBC said that the fragments, including the pieces of the wings, matched the Bayraktar TB2 drone, according to researchers from the Netherlands-based Peace Group and Amnesty International.The BBC indicated that the presence of Turkish drones in Ethiopia was detected last December, according to an expert on armed drones, Wim Zwijnenburg.Zwijnenburg highlighted satellite images that show Turkish drones parked at a government air base in the south of the Tigray region.
Turkey signed a defense cooperation agreement with Ethiopia last year, although the details of the agreement have not been made public.
Last December, Reuters reported that the United States had expressed its concern to the Turkish government about drone sales to Ethiopia.
Tigray TV broadcasted video footage showing remnants of a missile said to have been used in this incident.
An open source investigation, which used publicly available information to try to determine exactly what happened, concluded that based on those images, the fragments appeared to be identical to a Chinese-made "Blue Arrow 7" missile that could be mounted on a drone.
Satellite images revealed that Chinese-made Chengdu Winglong drones were parked at Harar Meda military air base in Ethiopia on December 15, the day before the Alamata market attack.
Investigators believe that China was the original source of the "Chengdu Wing Loong" drones in Ethiopia, which were initially intended for surveillance.
For his part, the Ethiopian government spokesman, Legis Tolu, refused to comment on the details of the events mentioned in the BBC report.
Tulu told BBC: "I will not say where, but the government used them (drones) at different times and places," adding that "the government did not use drones against civilians," as he claimed.