More than 60 people have been killed in a series of attacks targeting Christians in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, according to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, with dozens of residents fleeing their homes amid escalating insecurity.
The attacks occurred in three areas of Shirka district, where a church official described the violence as a “massacre.” The church said at least 20 houses were burnt to the ground during the assaults.
An eyewitness told BBC Amharic that five of those killed were children, while a resident who lost his 75-year-old father described the incident as an ambush.
“We were completely unprepared and had no prior knowledge. They surrounded us from all four directions,” the resident told the broadcaster.
According to a church official, security forces arrived at the scene but were unable to stop the attacks.
The regional government has pledged to take action against those responsible, although responsibility for the latest violence has not been independently established.
A local official blamed the attacks on the Alliance for Survival, a newly formed rebel coalition that includes the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). The OLA has not commented on the latest incident but has previously denied responsibility for similar attacks.
In a statement, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church condemned the killings, warning that attacks against Christians had increased in recent months.
The church said the violence undermined Ethiopia’s values of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence. It also claimed that it had repeatedly raised concerns about insecurity with authorities at different levels of government, but that no lasting solution had been found.
The latest killings come amid a wider pattern of deadly violence in the area. A report released in July 2026 by the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, a non-governmental organisation, documented 458 deaths in attacks in the region over the preceding four years.
The report said armed groups had repeatedly targeted local communities, particularly members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, in what it described as religiously motivated attacks. It identified the latest incident as one of the deadliest episodes during the period.
The Ethiopian government has previously accused the OLA of carrying out attacks against civilians and religious institutions. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has described such violence as part of efforts to destabilise the country.
The OLA, which says it is fighting for greater rights for the Oromo people, has denied the allegations.
However, previous reports have also documented attacks against Muslims in the area, with residents describing the violence as having both ethnic and religious dimensions.
Ethiopia has a diverse religious population, with Christians accounting for approximately two-thirds of its population, most of them Orthodox, while Muslims make up about one-third.
The latest attacks have renewed concerns over civilian safety and the ability of authorities to protect communities amid persistent insecurity in Oromia.
