Casualties of the Tigray war

15-year-old in Mekelle who lost their eye after being shot by a sniper.

Precise casualty figures of the Tigray war are uncertain. The Uppsala Conflict Data Program recorded over 100,000 battle-related fatalities to the Tigray conflict in 2022 alone, primarily military but including some civilians. A peer-reviewed study by researchers from the University of London calculated over 102,000 excess deaths in Tigray from November 2020 to mid-2022, of which 72% are from violence and the rest from lack of healthcare and famine. According to researchers at Ghent University in Belgium, the combined impact of wartime violence and famine and a lack of medical access had killed an estimated 162,000–378,000 people, with other reported estimates reaching numbers as high as 600,000 killed. The African Union mediator, Olusegun Obasanjo, publicly stated that the war likely killed around 600,000 people. The scale of the death and destruction led The New York Times to describe it in November 2022 as "one of the world’s bloodiest contemporary conflicts."

True casualties statistics have been difficult to determine, largely due to deliberate information blackouts in the region. Journalists have noted the difficulty they face attempting to report on the war, as the Ethiopian government has taken steps to reduce press access to the Tigray Region, facing the risk of getting killed or imprisoned. It is also been reported that there is an unwillingness from either side to fully confirm precise numbers.

While Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed initially spoke of no civilian casualties in the early days of the war, by February 2021, he described the level of death in Tigray as "hav[ing] caused much distress for me personally.”

A mass grave of civilians in Tigray

Numerous reports have been made of extrajudicial killings and summary executions (in many cases, targeting civilians) since the war began.

Terminology:

• ENDF – Ethiopian National Defense Forces

• EDF – Eritrean Defense Forces

• TDF – Tigrayan Defense Forces

• Fano – Amhara militia

Mass graves in Maikadra and funeral services

One of the civilian victims of the Togoga airstrike

As of 2 February 2021, the highest estimate of civilian deaths in the Tigray War is that given by three of the opposition parties from the 2020 Tigray regional election: National Congress of Great Tigray, Tigray Independence Party, and Salsay Woyane Tigray, which were allocated 15 seats in September 2020, prior to the war. The three parties' statement, published on 2 February 2021, estimated that at least 52,000 civilians had been killed by the ENDF, the Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF), Amhara militias, and other forces allied with the ENDF. Hailu Kebede, head of foreign affairs in Salsay Woyane Tigray, said that the three parties' collection method was to try to register data from witnesses in every administrative area of Tigray Region. He stated that "thousands" of names were already recorded.

A peer-reviewed study by researchers from the University of London calculated over 102,000 excess deaths in Tigray from November 2020 to mid-2022, of which 72% are from violence and the rest from lack of healthcare and famine.| According to researchers at Ghent University in Belgium, the combined impact of wartime violence and famine and a lack of medical access had killed an estimated 162,000–378,000 people, with other reported estimates reaching numbers as high as 600,000 killed. The African Union mediator, Olusegun Obasanjo, publicly stated that the war likely killed around 600,000 people.

Samwarit, 4, lies on her hospital bed recovering from knife wounds in her leg and a gunshot in her hand, according to her father, in Mekelle, Tigray, June 4, 2021.

An ENDF soldier present at the attack on the Adigrat base of the ENDF Northern Command during the 4 November Northern Command attacks, Bulcha, stated to BBC News that there were 32 ENDF fatalities and 100 TPLF fatalities.

Based on its 14–18 November 2020 visit and a visit starting 10 January 2021 to the Tigray Region, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) reported a Humera hospital employee's count of the war deaths as 92, including military (ENDF and TPLF) and civilian deaths.

An estimated 760 troops (ENDF and TPLF) were killed during fighting in the Raya region.

The TPLF claimed on 24 November to have killed thousands of ENDF and Eritrean in three fronts: Adwa, Idagahamus and Ray-Mokoni. They also claimed to have killed almost an entire Ethiopian division during fighting at Raya. This division is the 21st mechanised division.

On 7 December 2020 heavy fighting broke out between AMISOM troops and Ethiopian troops in Hiran region, Somalia, when Ethiopian troops tried to disarm Tigrayan troops. In total 21 Tigrayan soldiers and 20 Ethiopian soldiers were killed.

In September 2022, Ethiopian and Eritrean forces launched a massive "joint" offensive against rebels in Tigray. The Ethiopian army reportedly suffered 90,000 casualties in one month.

• fully documented civilian casualties Archived 2021-05-21 at the Wayback Machine
• documented casualties Archived 2021-05-21 at the Wayback Machine