Dozens of Christians killed in Ethiopia's Oromia, church says

More than 60 people have been killed in a series of attacks on Christians in Ethiopia's Oromia region, according to the country's Orthodox Church. A church official described the assaults on three areas of the Shirka district as a "massacre", and an eyewitness told BBC Amharic that five of the dead were children.

One resident, whose 75-year-old father was killed, told BBC Amharic the community had been caught in an ambush. "We were completely unprepared and had no prior knowledge. They surrounded us from all four directions," he said. A statement from the Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church said 20 houses were burnt to the ground; it did not say who was responsible. Many residents have now fled, and the church official said security forces arrived at the scene but were unable to stop the assault.

A local official blamed the attacks on a newly formed rebel coalition, the Alliance for Survival, which includes the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). The OLA has not commented but has denied carrying out previous such attacks. The regional government said it would take action against those responsible. The death toll, and the identity of the attackers, cannot be independently verified.

The church said attacks against Christians had been increasing, calling them actions that "undermine the country's values of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence". In a statement posted on Facebook, it said it had repeatedly raised concerns about insecurity with authorities at different levels of government, but that "so far there has been no solution".

The violence sits within a longer pattern. The Ethiopian Human Rights Council, a non-governmental organisation, said in a report released in July that 458 people had been killed in attacks in that area over the previous four years, with armed groups repeatedly targeting local communities, particularly Orthodox followers, in what it described as religiously motivated attacks. This is one of the most deadly attacks in that period. Previous reports have also documented attacks against Muslims, and residents who have spoken to the BBC have described the violence as both ethnic and religious in nature.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government has previously blamed the OLA, saying violence against civilians and religious institutions is part of a plan to destabilise the country. The group, which says it is fighting for greater rights for the Oromo people, denies those allegations. About two-thirds of Ethiopians are Christians, mostly Orthodox, and one third are Muslim.

For now, the families who fled Shirka are waiting to bury their dead and for the regional government to make good on its promise of action — and for an answer to the question the church has been asking of officials for years: when will someone keep them safe?