At least 78 people have died during nationwide violence in Ethiopia in recent week according to a senior spokesman of the government on Thursday.
Briefing journalists, the head of the Press Secretariat Nigusu Tilahun said the government has detained 409 individuals suspected of inciting the violence in different parts of the country.
The latest spate of unrest erupted in more than ten towns and cities of the Oromia regional state.
The press secretariat claimed that the number of victims could have been greater without the intervention of the security forces.
Nigusu blamed ethnic based politics for the subsequent deaths which followed the unrest which prompted the government to take measures to enforce law and order in the troubled parts of the country.
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has deployed an inquiry team to probe reported violations in cities and towns of Oromia State.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the commission called for justice to be served against those were directly or indirectly involved in stoking up the recent violence.
According to the commission, up to 80 people had died and hundreds of others wounded during the protracted violence.
“Ten of the victims were shot dead by the security forces while the other 70 were killed in coldblood,” said the statement.
It did not mention the organized youth vigilante known as Qeerroo which was blamed in several quarters for instigating the violence.
MG/as/APA