More than 60 people have been killed in a collection of attacks on Christians in Ethiopia’s Oromia area, according to the nation’s Orthodox Church.
One resident, whose 75-year-old father was killed, described it as an ambush. “We were completely unprepared and had no prior knowledge. They surrounded us from all four directions,” he instructed BBC Amharic.
The regional authorities said that it would take motion against those accountable.
An area official blamed the attacks on a newly shaped insurgent coalition, the Alliance for Survival, which contains the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). The OLA has not commented but has denied carrying out earlier such attacks.
A press release from the Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church said that 20 homes were burnt to the ground in the attacks. It did not say who was accountable.
Eyewitness instructed BBC Amharic that 5 of those killed were kids.
A church official described the attacks on three areas in the Shirka district as a “massacre”, saying security forces arrived at the scene but were unable to stop the assault.
Many residents have now fled the space.
Condemning the violence, the Orthodox Church said attacks against Christians had been growing not too long ago, and that “such actions undermine the country’s values of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence”.
In a assertion posted on Facebook, the Orthodox Church said it had repeatedly raised issues about insecurity with authorities at completely different ranges of authorities, but that “so far there has been no solution”.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Council, a non-governmental organisation, said in a report launched in July 2026 that 458 people had been killed in attacks in that space over the earlier 4 years.
But this is one of the most lethal attacks in that period.
The report said armed teams had repeatedly focused native communities, notably followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, in what it described as religiously motivated attacks.
The authorities has beforehand blamed the OLA for the attacks, with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed saying violence focusing on civilians and non secular establishments was half of a plan to destabilise the nation.
The group, which says it is combating for better rights for the Oromo people, denies these allegations.
Previous reports have also documented attacks against Muslims in the space. Residents who spoke to the BBC on numerous events have described the violence as both ethnic and non secular in nature.
About two-thirds of Ethiopians are Christians, principally Orthodox, while one third are Muslim.
Source hyperlink
