Bora massacre
Massacre in Bora, Southern Tigray as part of Tigray war
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The Bora massacre was a mass extrajudicial killing that took place in Bora (Tigrinya: ቦራ) in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia during the Tigray War, on 8 January 2021, with aftermath killings that continued up to 10 January. [1][2][3] Bora is the capital town of woreda Bora-Selewa, Southern zone of Tigray.
| Bora massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of Tigray War | |
  Bora  Bora Location of Bora in Tigray (Ethiopia) | |
| Location | Bora (Tigrinya: ቦራ), Tigray Region, Ethiopia |
| Date | 8 January 2021 |
| Target | Tigrayans |
Attack type | |
| Deaths | 187 civilians |
| Perpetrators |  Ethiopian National Defence Force |
Massacre
A skirmish occurred between the TDF and ENDF on the morning of 8 January in the Ajale mountains, about 16 kilometres northeast of Bora. After the fighting, soldiers descended upon Bora.[2]
A massacre by the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) then took place, in which the ENDF killed from 70[4] to 170 civilians in Bora on 8-10 January 2021.[3] Soldiers went house to house in Bora and carried out the executions. After the killing, the soldiers stopped families from taking their dead. Burials were only permitted two days later; one person buried 26 corpses in the graveyard of the Abune Aregawi Church.[2] The executions mostly took the form of removing a man from his house, making him kneel, and shooting him in the head.[4] In the aftermath, the killing spree reached nearby villages Adi Shegla, Chamela and Chelena.[3]
A mother testified to the EHRC–OHCHR Tigray investigation that her son was executed in the 8 January massacre for being a suspected TPLF fighter.[4]
Perpetrators
Survivors interpreted the identity of the perpetrators as Ethiopian soldiers.[2]
Victims
Reactions
The "Tigray: Atlas of the humanitarian situation",[3] that documented this massacre received international media attention, particularly with regard to its Annex A, which includes the Bora massacre.[6][7][8][9]
Mulu Nega, the chief executive of Tigray's transitional government, and Daniel Bekele, head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), did not respond to LA Times' requests for comment.[2] After months of denial by the Ethiopian authorities that massacres occurred in Tigray, the EHRC–OHCHR Tigray investigation was announced in March 2021,[10] and published its report on 3 November 2021.[4]