Explosions were heard overnight in Addis Ababa, according to three diplomatic sources consulted by Reuters. A source in the alliance fighting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government said the group carried out "several drone strikes" in the capital, including one targeting the Defence Forces' headquarters. The agency could not independently confirm the claim, and witnesses said they saw no damage near the military site.
If confirmed, it would be the first drone attack by anti-government forces on the Ethiopian capital, which lies hundreds of kilometres from the front lines in the north of the country.
The drone ban came hours earlier
The national intelligence service had announced on Wednesday a ban on drone flights over Addis Ababa and its surroundings, "for security reasons". The explosions were reported only hours later.
Abiy Ahmed's office, the federal government and the Ethiopian National Defence Force did not immediately comment on the incident. No casualties were reported.
The war has returned to the north
The fighting in the north pits federal forces against the Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival, which brings together seven armed groups — among them the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and organisations from the Amhara, Afar, Somali and Benishangul-Gumuz regions — and states its goal as removing the government.
Government troops have advanced to within about 40 kilometres of Mekelle, the capital of Tigray. The TPLF pulled its fighters back to new positions and its leaders left the city; thousands of civilians fled fearing clashes, and the region is without electricity or internet. In the Afar region, the government says it has retaken the towns of Erebti and Abaala.
The war has already displaced tens of thousands of people and has, in practice, undone the peace agreement signed in Pretoria in November 2022, which had ended the previous conflict in Tigray.
A diplomatic rupture with Eritrea
Also on Thursday, Ethiopia's Government Communication Service announced the closure of the Ethiopian embassy in Asmara and the expulsion of 10 Eritrean diplomats, who have 48 hours to leave the country. Addis Ababa accuses Eritrea of "direct and indirect acts of hostility"; Asmara denies any involvement in the conflict.
The official government statement records both decisions without setting out a detailed justification. The distance between Addis Ababa and the front is what gives Thursday's episode its weight: until now, the war in the north had not reached the capital, home to the seat of government and to the African Union's headquarters.
With information from Al Jazeera, Reuters and Ethiopia's Government Communication Service.
