Six people have also died in Shashemene city and in East Wellega zone of the Oromia regional state on Sunday and Saturday respectively. See the scoop below.
The number of people killed after attack by the Liyu police in at least three separate localities in Eastern Hararghe zone of the Oromia regional state has climbed to 37, according to Tizita Abay, communication officer of the Mayu Muluke Wereda where more than 30 of the causalities were from. More than 44 have been wounded. Abdulahi Ahmedi Kawo, another official from Mayu Muluke Wereda also told the BBC News Afaan Oromo service that ten of the wounded were currently receiving treatment at Gara Muleta hospital, in Gara Muleta town while some 36 are being treated at a local clinic.
The attacks happened on Sunday from 10 AM to late afternoon and Sunday to Monday night, in what Mohammed Aliyi, a police officer in the Mayu Muluke town said were a military assault by members of Ethiopia’s controversial Liyu Police “for reasons we are not clear with yet,” he told Addis Standard by phone. However, Taye Dendea, the region’s justice bureau communication head wrote on facebook page yesterday that 31 people were killed, of whom five were women. Children and the elderly were among the victims. Negeri Lencho, Oromia region communication bureau head, confirmed to OBN this afternoon the number of victims and said the attack was in line with the larger pattern of the Liyu Police’s track record in attacking civilians. But the government was working to bring a lasting solution, he said.
Ibsa Abdella, a nurse who is currently coordinating the emergency section for the wounded, told Addis Standard that eight of the victims were admitted yesterday and two were admitted on various times since Friday afternoon. According to Ibsa, sixteen people were also treated for light injuries. “All of them have sustained bullet wounds; of the ten currently being treated at the hospital two are in critical condition: one who is shot is his genitalia area and a second who was shot in his chest area,” Ibsa said by phone from Gara Muleta hospital. “The second who was hit in his chest is Sergent Mustefa Jamal, a member of the Oromia region riot police.” Three more of the wounded are also police officers, he said.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters 13 August 2018) – At least 40 people were killed by security forces in eastern Ethiopia at the weekend, a senior regional official said on Monday.
“The victims were all ethnic Oromos. The perpetrators were members of a paramilitary force,” said Negeri Lencho, spokesman for the Oromiya state administration.
The area has been plagued by instability.
Reporting by Aaron Maasho; editing by John Stonestreet
At least 37 people were killed in a Sunday morning raid in Ethiopia’s eastern Oromia region by the Somali special paramilitary force known as Liyu police, a local official has told the BBC.
More than 40 others were injured, the head of communication for Mayu Mulukke district, Tizita Abay, said.
Women, children under a year and blind elders are among the dead, officials say.
A witness, who survived several shots and a cut on his ear, said the paramilitary troops left him, thinking he was dead.
‘‘While we were sleeping they opened the door and killed my wife, son and neighbour’s child [who was sleeping at his house],’’ he added.
Somali officials have not yet commented on the allegations.
Human Right groups have long accused the special paramilitary force of killings, rapes and other abuses.
The border conflict between the Somali and Oromia region has left thousands of people dead and has forced more than one million to flee their homes in the past year.
Federal government troops have set up a base in the region as they carry out operations to curb the conflict.
Ethiopia: Paramilitaries ‘kill at least 40’ in Oromia region, Aljazeera
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