At least 26 people were killed last weekend in Dibate district, Metekel Zone of Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State of Ethiopia, eyewitnesses told local media.
The eyewitnesses said the ethnic Gumuz people were shot dead by government security members who arrived at Arbassa locality in a military vehicle.
The regional police commission said the government has been carrying out law enforcement operations in the district against the armed Gumuz men who call themselves members of the Gumuz People Democratic Movement.
One of the eyewitnesses Nigussie Feyissa told VOA Amharic Service that members of the government security forces surrounded the Arbassa locality at dawn and opened fire against unarmed ethnic Gumuz people.
According to the eye witness, the victims of the indiscriminate killing made 8 women, 11 men and seven were old people including tribal leaders.
He said the government troops told us that they came to the area to manhunt armed men who were behind the conflicts in the region.
Another eyewitness Habtamu Amsalu confirmed that the government security forces killed the civilians in revenge of the prior attack armed Gumuz people committed against members of the National Defense Forces were deployed there.
He said the dead bodies of the victims have not been collected or buried yet, he added.
The regional state’s Police Commissioner of the Region Abdulahi Mohammed denied the killing of the innocent people by members of government security forces.
