ADDIS ABABA (Semonegna) – Ambachew Mekonnen, PHD, the President of Amhara Regional State, and his adviser Ezez Wasie were killed during a coup attempt in Bahir Dar, state media reported on Sunday.
Dr. Ambachew Mekonnen and Ato Ezez Wasie were attacked in their offices on Saturday, state media reported, without saying who was responsible.
Earlier, the Ethiopian prime minister announced that the country’s army chief of staff had also been shot while thwarting the attempted coup in Amhara Region, a federal state north of the capital Addis Ababa.
Speaking on state television late on Saturday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said General Seare Mekonnen was one of several casualties, adding that: “He was shot by people who are close to him.”
But his press secretary, Billene Seyoum, told Reuters news agency later that it was unclear whether General Seare had been killed or wounded.
A regional television broadcaster affiliated with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a member of Abiy’s coalition, reported Seare had been killed, alongside another senior military official, Gize Abera.
Residents in Amhara’s capital Bahir Dar said late on Saturday there was gunfire in some neighborhoods and some roads had been closed off.
The US embassy issued alerts about reported gunfire in the capital, Addis Ababa, and violence around Bahir Dar.
Continue reading this story at Al Jazeera English
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