Thread by @bellingcat

Three weeks ago, videos surfaced online showing a massacre in Ethiopia's Tigray Region.

In this @Newsy + @Bellingcat investigation, working with #BBCAfricaEye, we located the site of the massacre bellingcat.com/news/2021/04/0…

@Newsy In the videos, soldiers can be seen rounding up a group of between 25 and 30 people in civilian clothes

@Newsy One of these videos shows the civilians being marched to the edge of a cliff before they are executed and their bodies thrown over the edge.

@Newsy By analysing satellite imagery, social media posts and topographical rendering tools, we were able to locate these videos to an area south of the town of Mahbere Dego.

@Newsy Mahbere Dego is situated in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, which has borne witness to a vicious conflict that since November has drawn in Ethiopian troops, militias, Tigrayan forces and the army of neighbouring Eritrea

@Newsy We were able to hone in on the area where the massacre took place by looking at clues like the cliff ridgeline, the surrounding mountains and the shadows cast by soldiers in one of the videos.

@Newsy Four of the videos were filmed in one location, our research showed, while the remaining video was shot roughly one kilometre away

@Newsy The audio accompanying the videos also provided us with some clues. A translator confirmed to us that soldiers can be heard speaking in Amharic, the administrative language of Ethiopia

@Newsy The soldiers were mostly native Amharic speakers from the Amhara region, the translator said. However, there were others who spoke with an accent from a region further south of Amhara.

@Newsy The soldiers could also be heard saying the word ”Woyane.” We spoke with @wdavison10, who told us the way that word had been used indicated the soldiers suspected the people they had rounded up were part of the Tigray People's Liberation Front.

@Newsy @wdavison10 We also noticed that a patch on the sleeve of one soldier bears the markings of the Ethiopian flag

@Newsy @wdavison10 Although the videos were shot at two sites about a kilometer apart, we believe that they all relate to the same event because one of the people in civilian clothing (seen here with a white shawl) is visible in videos from both sites.

@Newsy @wdavison10 This massacre is just one of those which have been reported as having taken place in the Tigray region since the conflict began last year

@Newsy @wdavison10 Read the full article by @gianfiorella @JakeGodin @Yaolri with help from @N_Waters89 @obretix @Timmi_Allen @Mabl2K and @MaximEdwards bellingcat.com/news/2021/04/0…

@Newsy @wdavison10 @gianfiorella @JakeGodin @Yaolri @N_Waters89 @obretix @Timmi_Allen @Mabl2K @MaximEdwards You can watch the @Newsy video which details this investigation here

@Newsy @wdavison10 @gianfiorella @JakeGodin @Yaolri @N_Waters89 @obretix @Timmi_Allen @Mabl2K @MaximEdwards And read the #BBCAfricaEye article here: bbc.com/news/world-afr…