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Is the multi-ethnic state of Ethiopia collapsing?
Photo: Ben Curtis/AP
According to eyewitness reports, more than 100 people have been killed in Ethiopia.
According to information on Sunday, armed men shot dead in Oromia, the largest region of the East African country, mainly members of the Amharer ethnic group.
The attack happened near the town of Gimbi on Saturday and targeted several surrounding villages.
The regional government in Oromia confirmed the attack and blamed the rebel group Oromo Liberation Army (OLA).
The central government in Addis Ababa was initially unavailable for a request from the German Press Agency.
An OLA spokesman denied responsibility for the attack.
Abiy Ahmed's government is once again blaming OLA for crimes it committed itself, OLA spokesman Odaa Tarbii wrote on Twitter on Sunday evening.
'My whole family was killed.
Nobody escaped"
'My whole family was killed.
Nobody got away," said an eyewitness to the German Press Agency.
“I hear about 300 bodies have been recovered so far.
But in two of the attacked villages, the rescue hasn't even started.” The number of victims could therefore be higher, said the eyewitness, who lives in the immediate vicinity of the sites of the attacks.
Another eyewitness reported that many people were still hiding in the surrounding forests for fear of subsequent attacks.
'We've never seen anything like it.
Everyone was simply shot at, but the victims were mainly women, children and the elderly," said the man from the German Press Agency.
Ethiopia classified the OLA as a terrorist group after aligning itself with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).
OlA and TPLF are accused of wanting to destabilize Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government.
The OLA, a splinter group of the political party Oromo Liberation Front, calls for more autonomy and self-determination for the Oromo people.
The state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission called on the government to take action.
There are still security risks in the Oromia region, it said on Sunday.
The government must find a lasting solution to adequately protect the lives of civilians, commission chairman Daniel Bekele said.
dop/dpa