The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has issued a solemn call for justice and protection after at least 60 of its faithful were killed in two brutal attacks in the Oromia region.

According to the church, 14 people lost their lives in Merti district on Oct. 20, followed by a far deadlier assault in Shirka district on Oct. 24 that claimed 46 more lives. More than 20 others were seriously wounded, and around 20 homes were burned to the ground. 

In the deadliest of the attacks, armed groups surrounded farming families in their homes in Shirka Woreda late at night. Exits were blocked. Gunfire erupted. Houses were set ablaze.

Local sources described a coordinated assault involving local armed elements and others from the neighboring Bale Zone. Residents pleaded for police intervention, yet officers reportedly did not act, saying they lacked official orders. Families are now burying their loved ones among the ashes of what remains of their homes. 

Christians React

Who carried out the killings remains disputed. Oromia’s regional government has blamed a “rebel alliance,” while a source linked to the alliance has pointed the finger at the regional authorities.

What is clear is the human cost: children among the dead, families shattered, and an already fragile Christian community left reeling amid years of insecurity in Ethiopia’s largest region. 

“We are burying our people in the ashes of their own homes,” said a partner who works closely with International Christian Concern (ICC) communities and asked to remain anonymous. “The night they came, there was nowhere to run. The church is grieving, and we cry out to the Lord for comfort and for justice that seems so far away.” 

Another eyewitness, also speaking anonymously, reflected on the deeper spiritual weight of the attacks. 

“These were not strangers to us,” he said. “They were fathers, mothers, and children who simply wanted to live in peace and worship the Lord. When the attackers surrounded their homes and set them on fire, it was an assault not only on lives but on the body of Christ in this land.” 

A third anonymous eyewitness expressed sorrow and continued to call for faith. 

“We do not know the full identity of those who carried out this massacre, but we know the God who sees every tear,” he said. “We ask the wider church to stand with us in prayer that the government would protect the vulnerable, that the cycle of violence would end, and that the light of Christ would still shine in Oromia even in this dark hour.” 

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has formally called on the government to protect civilians and to bring those responsible to justice. For the surviving families and the wider Christian community in Oromia, the pain is immediate, and the fear remains real.

“In the face of such loss, believers continue to look to the Lord who is near to the broken-hearted, trusting that he will not abandon his people,” an ICC staffer in the region said. “Let us join them in prayer for comfort for the bereaved, healing for the wounded, protection for the living, and an end to the violence that continues to target the faithful in Ethiopia.” 

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