APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) A rebel group calling itself the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), in Ethiopia’s Oromia region has been blamed for the recent killing of 12 policemen and members of militia forces in the region.
Eyewitnesses on Thursday told APA that the policemen were killed in an ambush at a place called Kore in the Guji zone in the Oromia region.
Mohammed Kitamo, Head of Tifate locality claimed that they were killed by “Shene” eing the term government officials use to refer to the militant radical ethnic Oromo nationalist group, known as the OLA.
Gezahegne Endashaw, a staff member at Kele Primary Hospital and a health professional, verified the claims and told APA that nine of the bodies were brought to the hospital on Wednesday evening.
The attack left two other police officers wounded.
Endashaw said the bodies were not taken to the hospital for a post-mortem examination but instead loaded onto a vehicle.
However, three bodies were laid to rest in the same town.
Gezahegne also confirmed that the bodies he saw on the vehicle and the two wounded officers were wearing the uniforms of the region’s special police force and militia.
Reports of a mediation effort for the third round of talks between Shene and the federal government emerged this week.
Local sources indicated that the United States’ special envoy to the Horn of Africa, Mike Hammer, is said to be in talks with the militant group to facilitate the proposed dialogue.
During an interview on the occasion of the 88th anniversary of the Ethiopian Air Force in December 2023, Defense Chief of Staff, Field Marshal Berhanu Jula, announced that there would be one final round of talks with the OLA.
OLA is believed to be the military wing of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and has been operating in the Oromia region since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration invited all armed opposition groups to the country after taking power in 2018.
OLF is linked to the massacre of tens of thousands of ethnic Amhara civilians and kidnappings in the Oromia region.
A few years ago, OLF declared that the military wing is no longer under the OLF.
MG/as/APA