Blast Hits Ethiopian Army HQ in Addis Ababa Amid TPLF War — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- The explosion hit the ENDF headquarters in the Tor Hayloch area of Addis Ababa between midnight and 1:00 a.m. local time on October 1, 2026, with no confirmed attribution or casualty figures yet from officials.
- Ethiopia's National Intelligence and Security Services banned all drone flights around the capital on Wednesday, one day before the blast, after ACLED reported drones linked to an anti-government alliance hit army and civilian airports in Oromia and Amhara states on Sunday.
- The TPLF launched attacks into neighbouring Afar and Amhara states starting September 23, fighting alongside local militias, though a humanitarian source said the group was dislodged from the town of Erebti by Thursday and pushed back toward the Tigray border.
- PM Abiy Ahmed is set to be sworn in for a new term on October 5, 2026, after winning June elections, but now faces a multi-front conflict as several armed groups have formed an alliance against him.
- MSF had registered more than 420 wounded at Korem and Alamata hospitals in Tigray by September 25 and more than 300 at Shire in western Tigray, with a humanitarian source estimating tens of thousands displaced in Afar.
- A nearby bar worker told AFP the blast was powerful enough to shake the surrounding area and trigger panic, while a resident described 'a few minutes of disturbing sounds followed by an explosion' — consistent with Bloomberg's report of two blasts in the capital.
Why it matters: The blast at army headquarters — the first reported attack on Addis Ababa in recent years — directly threatens the October 5 swearing-in of PM Abiy Ahmed and signals the TPLF-led alliance is now capable of striking the capital, not just northern battlefields. With more than 720 wounded already documented by MSF in Tigray and tens of thousands displaced in Afar, the conflict is widening geographically even as government-allied militias claim to be retaking ground.
Ask SkimNews
