Armed men killed at least 16 people and wounded many others in Afar regional state of north eastern Ethiopia, Police said on Monday.
Deputy Commissioner of the state’s crime prevention department Ahmed Umed said the well organized attackers committed the offense killing 16 people including three children and four women.
Information being circulated in social media, however, said that members of the Djibouti defense force carried out the attack over the weekend.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Defense Forces in a statement dismissed information that members of the Djibouti defense forces crossed Ethiopia’s border and carried out the attack.
Head of the office of the deputy chief of staff at Ethiopian defense forces Tesfaye Ayalew said the information which claimed “Djiboutian military forces crossed into Ethiopia, launched and killed innocent people in Afar state” is far from the truth.
The head said Djibouti does not have any intention to invade Ethiopia considering the close ties between the governments and peoples of the two neighboring nations.
He said there no any ground for the two countries to enter into conflict except rare disputes occurring between pastoralists of the two nations over grazing land and water bodies.
It is recalled that Ethiopia and Djibouti last year agreed to boost their mutual cooperation in political, economic and trade relations last year as part of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s reform to regional economic integration.
MG/abj/APA