Ethiopia church reports 60 deaths in two Oromiya attacks

Ethiopia's Orthodox church says two attacks in Oromiya killed at least 60 Christians, with opposing sides disputing responsibility.

The Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church reported the deaths in a statement released Monday. It identified separate incidents four days apart but offered no account of how the victims died and did not identify those responsible.

Church details deaths across two districts

The church put the death toll in Sherka Woreda at 46 following an attack on October 24, compared with 14 in Merti Woreda on October 20. Together, those figures account for the minimum toll of 60 that church authorities reported.

The same statement reported that fires destroyed over 20 homes and that hospitals admitted over 20 seriously wounded people. It did not provide a district-by-district breakdown of the injuries or burned properties, leaving the distribution of the wider damage unclear.

Church authorities described everyone killed as Christian. That identification does not, by itself, establish the attackers' motive, and the church statement did not explain whether victims were selected for their faith or describe the circumstances surrounding either incident.

Oromiya authorities and alliance exchange accusations

Oromiya's administration accused a rebel alliance of organizing the violence and alleged that its purpose was to provoke conflict between religious communities. Officials supplied no evidence for that account, which went beyond the church's statement by assigning both responsibility and motive.

An unnamed source connected to the alliance instead accused the regional administration of carrying out the killings. That source based the allegation on discussions with two residents from the area; the competing accounts do not establish which actors were responsible for either attack.

The accusations therefore concern more than the identity of the assailants. The administration's account alleges an effort to inflame religious divisions, while the alliance-linked source alleges government involvement. Neither allegation should be confused with the church's separately attributed account of deaths, injuries and damaged homes.

Rebel alliance adds national political context

The Oromo Liberation Army belongs to a coalition of seven armed organizations announced last month with the stated objective of removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government. The supplied account describes that alliance as fighting government troops in northern Tigray, while the reported killings occurred in Oromiya.

Regional authorities have previously accused the Oromo Liberation Army of attacks targeting Orthodox Christians. Those earlier accusations do not establish its involvement in the incidents reported by the church, and the group had not answered a request for comment when the account was published.

Responsibility and motive remain unresolved, alongside the circumstances of the two attacks. Establishing who carried them out would distinguish the competing allegations from the church's casualty account; without that evidence, attributing the violence to a religious strategy or a particular armed actor remains contested.