Ethiopia’s Security Forces have neutralized more than 100 insurgents in Benishangul-Gumuz regional state of western Ethiopia, an Ethiopian official said on Friday.
The rebel forces are allegedly trained and getting military support from neighboring Sudan and Egypt in light of disrupting construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in the regional state.
Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, chief police commissioner of Benishangul-Gumuz regional state, said dozens of suspected rebels were neutralized in a recent military operation in the Assosa zone of the region.
Mohammed further said scores of rifles were also seized during the recent military operation, reported state media outlet Ethiopia News Agency.
“Most of the neutralized suspected rebels were members of the Gumuz People’s Democratic Movement rebel group,” he said.
In February, around 2,000 Benishangul-Gumuz region rebels surrendered to the Ethiopian army, after security sweeps by the army forced the fighters to give up their weapons.
In recent months, deadly inter-communal violence, as well as rebel attacks in the East African country’s western region, have killed thousands of civilians and displaced more than 100,000 others.
MG/APA