Ethiopia's Oromia killings: 60 Orthodox Christians dead, bishops demand protection

Two nights of killing in the Arsi Zone

On October 20, in the village of Gora Silingo in Angada Kebele, Merti district, 14 Orthodox Christian worshippers were killed. Four days later, on October 24, gunmen struck again; in the villages of Tereta, Chole and Birbo in neighbouring Shirka district, killing 46 more. Both districts lie in the Arsi Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia's largest and most populous region.

The account comes from the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, whose Holy Synod issued its statement on Monday, October 26, at the start of its plenary assembly in Addis Ababa. The Synod added that more than 20 people were seriously wounded and hospitalized, and that 20 homes were burned down. It described the killings as 'extremely tragic cruelty and suffering inflicted on our citizens'.

Within days, Oromia regional spokesperson Hailu Adugna blamed the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and its allies and said action had begun against those responsible. No group has claimed responsibility. The OLA, fighting federal forces in Oromia since 2018, denies targeting civilians; a position its leader, Kumsa Diriba (Jaal Marroo), restated in an AP interview published in February.

Context on the region: the church funeral attack in Karak, Jordan, days earlier; Ethiopia's drone strikes on Eritrean troops in Tigray; the Tigray–Eritrea border offensive.

The church's count, the government's accusation

The Holy Synod's October 26 statement is the source of the 60-death figure: 14 in Merti on October 20, 46 in Shirka on October 24, more than 20 seriously wounded, 20 homes burned; framed as violations of the constitutional rights to life and religious freedom.

The Oromia government adds the attribution: the OLA and its allies in the Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival; a seven-group coalition announced in September to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government. A source linked to the alliance offered the mirror accusation, that the regional government carried out the killings, citing two residents, per the AP. Independent corroboration covers the scale, not the authorship: ACLED, cited by AFP, put the October 24 toll at at least 43 killed and 18 wounded, and called it a targeting of Orthodox Christians.

Whose guns, whose order; and how the count was made

We do not know who carried out either attack. No claim of responsibility, no named unit, no published forensic result. The regional government names the OLA and its allies; the OLA denies targeting civilians; the rebel alliance's circles blame the regional government. Each account serves the teller's war, and no independent inquiry has tested either one.

Who fired the shots?

We do not know whether religion determined who lived and who died. ACLED's assessment, religiously motivated, targeting Orthodox Christians, is the strongest signal available, but motive requires knowing the perpetrator, and we do not. Nor do we know how the Church compiled its count or how many of the wounded survived. The provisional toll and conflicting local counts (43, 46, 51) reflect an environment where independent journalists cannot move freely; Amnesty's Sarah Kimani told the AP in January that internet blackouts and media restrictions conceal the scale of abuses in Oromia.

Oromia's long conflict meets Ethiopia's faith lines

Oromia is Ethiopia's largest region, home to some 40 million people, and has endured a running conflict between government forces and the OLA since 2018. The October attacks land inside a documented pattern: in July, the independent Ethiopian Human Rights Council reported at least 432 civilians and four local militia members killed in targeted attacks across East Arsi between 2021–2022 and June 1, 2026. The October dead are not an anomaly; they are the pattern continuing.

Why does the Oromia conflict keep producing these attacks?

The Holy Synod's intervention nationalizes the story. When Ethiopia's largest church calls the killings a violation of constitutional religious freedom and warns that the country's tradition of coexistence is threatened, the incident stops being an Oromia security problem and becomes a test of the state's contract with all its citizens. The killings also came days after gunmen attacked a church funeral in Karak, Jordan; a separate episode, but one that sharpened global attention on violence against Christians in the region.

The blame game is the real battle

Strip the episode to its mechanics and there are two events, not one: the killings in the Arsi Zone, and the contest over what the killings mean. The killings are documented; sixty dead is the Church's figure, and even the most conservative independent count puts dozens in the ground. The meaning is where the war is being fought.

The regional government's move is classic counterinsurgency framing: name the OLA, fold the atrocity into the rebellion, promise action; converting a civilian massacre into a military problem, the one the state is equipped to solve. The alliance's counter-move is equally classic: blame the state. Both readings are unfalsifiable where journalists cannot verify either one, which is why Amnesty's blackout warning is not a side detail but the condition that makes the blame game possible. The Church, refusing to name a perpetrator and insisting on protection and prosecution, declines the attribution game and raises the real stakes: whether the Ethiopian state can keep its citizens alive.

From the pulpit to the region's balance of fear

First effect is ecclesiastical: the Holy Synod has put its institutional weight behind a demand for protection, and in Arsi the churches are the civic infrastructure. Second, the Alliance for Survival begins its public life as an accused perpetrator, or spends its early credibility on denials.

Third is the effect on civilians: every village now knows an attack can be followed by a blame contest rather than an investigation. The rational response is flight, silence, or armament; all of which deepen the conflict that produced the killing.

Protection promises, still no arrests

The immediate watch is the Oromia regional government's pledge to pursue those responsible. A pledge is not an arrest; the test is whether named perpetrators are detained and any inquiry publishes findings. No timeline has been given. The second watch is the Holy Synod's follow-through; public pressure, federal engagement, or the international ecumenical network.

The third watch is the Alliance for Survival's footprint in Arsi. Track the toll, not the narrative: 14, 46, 20, 20. Everything else is still being decided by people who have reasons to lie.