State-appointed human rights commission, Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said in a report on Wednesday, at least 50 people were murdered in Ethiopia’s Oromiya region in an attack by a banned rebel group.
Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group has experienced many years of conflict rooted in political grievances and accusations of marginalisation by the central government.
The February 2 killings were said to be mostly targeted at internally displaced persons in Ano, about 380 km west of the capital Addis Ababa, EHRC added.
The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) was blamed for the attack following report cited from families of the victims, witnesses and government bodies. The OLA is yet to respond to the claims.
The OLA is an outlawed splinter group of the Oromo Liberation Front, a formerly banned opposition party that returned from exile after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018.
Ethiopia government spokesman Legesse Tulu also did not respond to a request for comment.
The violence in Oromiya is different from the two-year conflict between the federal government and forces in the northern Tigray region, which ended in November following a peace agreement between the government and Tigray forces.
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