Ethiopian army forces have deployed in large numbers in the past fortnight to Amhara state, scene of a year-long insurgency, a security source told PA.E on Saturday.

The Fano, a long-standing “self-defence” militia for the Amhara ethnic group, the second largest in Ethiopia, took up arms against the federal government in April 2023 after it tried to disarm regional forces.

The government declared a state of emergency in Amhara, home to some 23 million people, in August 2023. While this expired in June, unrest has continued.

Federal forces and the Fano are known to have clashed on September 17 in Debark, an Amhara town around 750 km (460 miles) north of the capital Addis Ababa, leaving at least nine dead, mostly civilians.

The Fano and many Amharans fought alongside federal government forces in the brutal civil war against rebels in the neighbouring Tigray region between 2020 and 2022.