Ethiopia: At Least 48 Civilians Killed in Weekend Attacks in Ethiopia's Oromia Region, Once Again
Mourners gathering for a mass funeral in Shirka Woreda carried the weight of at least 48 lives lost. The killings happened across Chole and Birbo kebeles in the Arsi Zone of southeastern Oromia, and residents who attended the burial told Addis Standard that armed men went door to door, looting homes and using heavy weapons before they were done.
More than 31 other people were wounded in the attacks, some of them severely. The scale of what unfolded over the weekend, described by eyewitnesses as a coordinated sweep through two communities, points to a level of organisation and firepower that has left survivors shaken and a region once again in grief.
This is not the first time Oromia has absorbed this kind of loss, and that word "again" in how residents speak about it says everything. The question of who is protecting these communities, and when the cycle ends, remains painfully open.
Originally published by AllAfrica.