Ethiopia’s army chief of staff has been shot, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced on television Sunday as the government said it had thwarted an attempted coup in a regional state of this Horn of Africa nation.
Abiy took to national television in the early hours of the morning dressed in military fatigues and announced that army chief Seare Mekonnen had been shot, an AFP correspondent said. His condition was unknown.
The internet was cut in Ethiopia, and more details were not immediately available.
The United States embassy issued alerts about reported gunfire in the capital Addis Ababa, and violence around Amhara’s main city Bahir Dar.
“The embassy is aware of reports of gunfire in Addis Ababa. Chief of mission personnel are advised to shelter in place,” the embassy said in one of its two alerts.
Earlier, Abiy’s office announced that an attempted coup had taken place in Amhara, one of nine autonomous regions in the country.