As government offensive pushes forward, scars of war dot Ethiopia's Amhara region

FILE PHOTO: A satellite image shows the overview of troops and military trucks in Tarma Ber of Amhara Region, Ethiopia December 2, 2021. Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS

GASHENA, Ethiopia (Reuters) - In a roadside village shattered by one of Africa's bloodiest current conflicts, a donkey and its young, turbaned master tiptoe past an unexploded shell rusting by the blasted remnants of a tank, its turret and tracks tossed sideways.

Ethiopian soldiers said the tank's crew had been fighting for Tigray, the rebellious northern region battling the central government. In June, Tigrayan fighters invaded the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara, pushing so far south that by the end of November they were fighting near a town just 190 kilometres (118 miles) from Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.