Ethiopia launches operation after gunmen kill 28

By Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) – Ethiopia’s prime minister Thursday said retaliatory measures were underway in the Western Wollega zone of the country's most populous region of Oromia where at least 28 innocent civilians were massacred late Wednesday.

Gunmen reportedly belonging to a splinter group of the Oromo Liberation Front massacred the civilians identified to be ethnic Amharas.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed tweeted that at a time when the world is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, such acts will not add up to the “Ethiopia we want."

He condemned the atrocious act and condoled with the families of the deceased.

“We should work in collaboration to bring the perpetrators to justice and also to put an end to such killings,” he said.

In recent years, the Horn of Africa country has seen repeated attacks against civilians in the Western Wollega and Metekel zones of the Benishangul-Gumuz region bordering Sudan.