The drone massacre took place on February 19th. A few days later, the Ethiopian military, confident that none of the survivors were able to communicate with the outside world, issued a statement claiming that its forces carried out an operation that captured and killed "many" rebel forces.
But days later, news reports based on eyewitness testimony began to emerge. The BBC and Reuters were among those who published initial reports, citing eyewitness accounts.
To make matters worse for the Ethiopian army, a week or so after the drone strike, a 60 second video clip emerged on the web, depicting the aftermath of the the drone strike. Its contents are too gruesome to describe here without a content warning. Undated, unverified, it still went viral and provoked outrage.