In brief
In the Shirka district of Oromia, Ethiopia, a coordinated assault on Christian homes and churches killed more than 60 people, including five children. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church described the event as a massacre and blamed a new rebel coalition that includes the Oromo Liberation Army. Despite security forces arriving on the scene, they were unable to stop the attackers, and many residents have fled. The government vowed to take action against those responsible, while human rights groups highlighted the escalating pattern of religiously‑motivated violence in the region.
A coordinated attack on Christian homes and churches in the Shirka district of Oromia on Saturday left more than 60 people dead, a figure that the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church says will be the most lethal incident in the region in recent years.
Witnesses described the assault as an ambush. A villager whose seventy‑five year old father was among the dead told reporters that his family – and the church they had gathered in – were surrounded from all four directions with no warning.
The church’s Holy Synod released a statement calling the killings a “massacre” and adding that twenty houses were burnt to the ground. It offered no attribution but criticised authorities for a lack of action, noting that repeated appeals for security had gone unanswered.
Only a single local official has linked the attack to the newly formed Alliance for Survival, a coalition that includes the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). The OLA has denied any role in the incident.
Ethiopia’s government has previously blamed the OLA for a pattern of attacks on civilians and religious sites. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has framed such violence as part of a broader effort to destabilise the country.
Human rights monitoring bodies report a growing trend of ethnic‑and‑religious motivated violence in Oromia; a 2026 council report counted 458 total deaths in the region over the past four years. This latest strike tops their yearly tallies and signals a new urgency for intervention.
According to the Orthodox Church, the number of victims includes five children. The scale of the attack has prompted the evacuation of many residents seeking refuge in safer areas.
Ethiopia’s religious demographic makeup – roughly two‑thirds Christian, mainly Orthodox, and one‑third Muslim – underscores the fragile inter‑communal balance that has been tested by recent violence. The Shirka tragedy may have a ripple effect on the nation's struggle to maintain peace.
