Djibouti's government said its security forces carried out a drone strike near the country's border with Ethiopia, killing eight people it identified as members of an armed group. The defense ministry also acknowledged unspecified civilian harm, leaving the full casualty toll unclear.
According to the ministry's account, the strike hit Addorta, a Djiboutian locality about six kilometers from the Ethiopian border. Officials described the target as a group involved in hostile activity that posed a possible threat to forward military posts. The government's terminology could not be independently verified from the supplied reports, so the claim that those killed were militants remains attributed to Djiboutian authorities.
Alexis Mohamed, an adviser to President Ismael Omar Guelleh, identified the targeted organization as the Armed Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy, known as FRUDA. Djibouti classifies the group as a terrorist organization. Officials did not publicly provide names of those killed, explain how the target was selected or give a precise number for civilians affected. Security authorities also did not answer a request from VOA Somali for further operational details.
There was also a dispute over where the strike occurred. The Addis Standard, an Ethiopian newspaper cited in the supplied reporting, said the attack happened on Ethiopian territory. Djibouti rejected that account, and Mohamed maintained that the operation took place within Djibouti's borders. No independent location evidence was included in the source packet to resolve the conflicting claims.
FRUDA is an armed offshoot associated with the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy, or FRUD. The movement emerged from Djibouti's Afar community and launched an insurgency in 1991, saying it sought to represent Afar interests. Part of the broader organization later entered a coalition supporting Guelleh, while the armed wing continued attacks on government forces.
Djiboutian officials had previously blamed FRUD for an October 2022 attack on barracks at Garabtisan in the country's north. Seven soldiers were killed and six were abducted in that episode; the captives were released several weeks later. That history formed part of the government's explanation of the threat, but it did not itself verify the circumstances of the 2025 drone strike.
The incident carried added regional sensitivity because the frontier location was contested and Djibouti occupies a strategically important position beside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The country hosts military installations operated by several foreign powers, including the United States and China. With civilian casualties unquantified and the strike location disputed, key elements of the operation remained dependent on official claims rather than independent confirmation.
