Horror in Ethiopia: 200 civilians were killed in a brutal massacre that took place in the southern part of Urmia, eyewitnesses reported to the AP news agency, accusing a local rebel group of carrying out the acts.
It is one of the deadliest massacres in the Ethiopian civil war that has been raging for more than two years and is aimed at the Amharas, the second largest population group and ethnic minority in the Urmia region, where the Oromo are the majority group.
According to eyewitnesses armed by the Oromo Liberation Army, a large rebel group taking part in the rebel coalition fighting the government in Addis Ababa are the ones who carried out the massacre.
"We have collected 230 bodies so far. I am afraid this is the biggest attack on civilians we have seen in our lifetime," Abdul Sair Tahir, a resident of Gimby District, told the Associated Press.
"We are burying the dead in mass graves and still finding new bodies. Federal Army forces have arrived at the scene,
A mosque attacked in the Urmia region of southern Ethiopia,
Shambel, another eyewitness who survived the massacre, said: "The Amharas here are scared and have long wanted to be evacuated. They should all be evicted before another round of killings takes place. The rebels could not resist the army so they turned to harm the civilians. They just slaughtered "People are like chickens," said the survivor of the massacre.
However, the Oromo Liberation Army has denied the allegations.
"The attacks referred to were carried out by the regime army and local militia forces, after they withdrew from their camp in the Gimby area following a major attack we carried out there," said organization spokesman Odha Tarbi.
An Ethiopian army tank destroyed in fighting in the south of the country, Photo: Reuters
"They withdrew from the Tula-ready area, where they attacked the local population, destroying their property in
retaliation for their support of us. Our fighters did not even reach this area, where the attacks took place," the spokesman said.
It has claimed the lives of more than 50,000 civilians and led to more than two million displaced people across the country, which is the second most populous in Africa.
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