by Nurat Uthman
Thirteen people, including five civilians, were killed in an attack by unidentified assailants in the far south of Ethiopia, the local authority said Thursday.
The three-day attack starting late August 17 took place in the Segen district in the Konso area, with the assailants “killing eight police officers and five civilians”, said Serawit Dibaba, spokesman for the local communications affairs department.
“The extremist group has fled the affected area after committing the attack,” he told AFP, without giving further information about the assailants.
Serawit said the group had previously engaged in “various crimes including murders and property arson”, and had been responsible for the murder of a policeman last month.
“The security forces are patrolling the area and conducting operations to control remnants of the extremist force,” he added.
The Konso Zone Government Communication office also confirmed the death toll in a post on Facebook late Wednesday.
It said the assailants had set fire to and destroyed numerous official buildings, including the district administrative office, police station, and a conference hall, as well as destroying generators.
Other items, including hospital equipment and official vehicles, were looted, it added.
Deadly violence has erupted in the area several times in the past, with intercommunal conflict in 2022 displacing about 37,000 people, according to a UN report at the time.
