Ethiopia: At least 60 Christians killed in attacks in Oromia region

At least 60 people have been killed in two attacks in Ethiopia's Oromia region in recent days, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church said, according to Reuters on Tuesday.

Religious authorities said all the victims were Christians but provided no further details about those responsible for the attacks.

Oromia is Ethiopia's largest region, with a population of around 40 million. It has long faced an insurgency and ethnic tensions among its Muslim, Protestant and Orthodox Christian communities, tensions increasingly exploited by armed groups.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church said 14 worshippers were killed in Merti district on 20 October and another 46 in Sherka district on 24 October.

The Church also said more than 20 homes were set on fire and over 20 people were hospitalised with serious injuries, according to Reuters.

Reacting to the 24 October attack, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) told AFP that the violence was "believed to be religiously motivated and to have targeted Orthodox Christians", citing the reported looting of an Orthodox church.

ACLED said attacks against Orthodox Christians in the region had increased since February 2023, with the violence intensifying over the past year.

The possible involvement of the Oromo Liberation Front, the main insurgent group operating in Oromia, has not been established.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, a publicly funded but administratively independent institution, told AFP it was "monitoring the situation" and "examining the details".