At least 60 people are reported to have died in attacks targeting Christians in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, according to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, with a church official calling the violence a “massacre”.
The Church put the death toll in Merti district on 20 October at 14, with another 46 people killed in Shirka district on 24 October, the Associated Press reported.
The Church’s Holy Synod said 20 homes had been burnt down. Victims are said to have included children and elderly people.
One man, whose 75-year-old father was among those killed, told BBC Amharic that residents had been caught by surprise.
“We were completely unprepared and had no prior knowledge. They surrounded us from all four directions,” he said.
Witnesses told the BBC that five children were among the victims. A church official said security personnel reached the area but could not halt the attack. Many residents have since fled.
Vatican News reported that the Shirka attack took place overnight from Saturday to Sunday, with witnesses describing attackers moving between homes and using firearms and knives against residents. One church was reportedly damaged, while others in nearby villages sheltered those escaping the violence.
It is not clear who carried out the attacks, but the regional government has pledged action against the perpetrators.
In a statement, the Church expressed its "profound sorrow" over the killings. Warning of a rise in attacks against Christians, it called on the government to protect Christians and bring the perpetrators to justice.
"Such acts are entirely unacceptable under the teachings of any religion and are incompatible with the human rights of all people," the Church said.
"They violate the constitutional rights to religious freedom and to life, contradict both religious principles and the natural law of humanity, undermine our national values of peaceful coexistence and mutual respect, and constitute inhumane acts that deserve unequivocal condemnation."
The latest deaths follow years of violence in the area. The BBC cited a July 2026 report by the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, a non-governmental organisation, which recorded 458 deaths in attacks there over the preceding four years.
The council said armed groups had repeatedly attacked communities, particularly Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. It characterised the violence as religiously motivated.
