Other sources say the number of casualties from the latest string of massacres of ethnic Amhara in Gimbi Oromo region of Ethiopia is over 300. Victims are mostly children and women
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The number of civilians massacred on Saturday in Tole Kebele of Gimbi, Wollega, West Ethiopia is well over 200. It is said to be one of the deadliest.
The victims are mostly of ethnic Amhara origin who had been living in the area for generations. Associated Press cited survivors from the area to report that victims were being buried in mass graves.
One of the survivors who identified himself to The Associated Press as Abdul-Seid Tahir, who is said to be a resident of the Gimbi area where the incident took place, is quoted as saying “I have counted 230 bodies. I am afraid this is the deadliest attack against civilians we have seen in our lifetime. ”
The witness also said “We are burying them in mass graves, and we are still collecting bodies. Federal army units have now arrived, but we fear that the attacks could continue if they leave.”
Another witness who identified himself only by his first name, Shambel, told The AP “the local Amhara community is now desperately seeking to be relocated somewhere else “before another round of mass killings happen.”
The group that calls itself the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which the government calls Shane, denied that it carried out the attack against civilians in Tole Kebelle of Ghimbi, West Wollega area of Ethiopia.
There is no indication, at this writing, if the government has deployed Federal forces to the Gimbi area of Wollega, West Ethiopia.
Odaa Tarbii, OLA spokesperson, told AP journalist “The attack you are referring to was committed by the regime’s military and local militia as they retreated from their camp in Gimbi following our recent offensive.”
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the Oromo regional State have confirmed that there was a massacre in Ghimbi but did not specify the number of casualties.
The Oromo regional state said that “Shane attacked civilians after it failed to resist an offensive from federal forces.”
There have been a series of massacres in the Oromo and Benishangul Gumuz region of Ethiopia since Abiy Ahmed took power in 2018, and the victims are, in most cases, ethnic Amhara communities who have been living in the regions for generations.
Thousands, including women and children, had been killed in the past four years. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were displaced due to ethnic-based attacks by radical ethnic nationalist groups.
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