A militia attack in Ethiopia’s restive Oromia region last week left many civilians dead, a local official confirmed Thursday. The exact death toll remains unclear.
The assault occurred Friday, about 300 kilometers west of Addis Ababa, according to local administrator Ketema Wakuma. He accused the Fano militia, an armed group primarily active in the neighboring Amhara region, of carrying out the killings.
“The extremist forces of Fano committed the atrocity that killed many civilians,” Ketema told AFP, without providing further details. The Addis Standard, an independent Ethiopian outlet, reported that at least 20 people were killed and three kidnapped.
Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest and most populous region, has been engulfed in violence since 2018 due to an ongoing insurgency by the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). Government efforts to broker peace have failed, and the conflict continues to claim lives.
The Fano militia, originally formed as a “self-defense” group, has operated without a central command and increasingly clashed with security forces. Since April 2023, its fighters have repeatedly seized towns in Amhara, intensifying unrest across Ethiopia.
The country remains in turmoil, with armed conflicts raging in both Oromia and Amhara. These tensions follow Ethiopia’s devastating two-year war in Tigray, which claimed an estimated 600,000 lives between 2020 and 2022.