Ethiopian Orthodox Synod Says 60 Faithful Were Killed in Two Arsi Attacks

Ethiopian Orthodox Synod Says 60 Faithful Were Killed in Two Arsi Attacks

October 27, 2026

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A graphic released by EOTC TV on Oct. 26 with the Holy Synod’s statement condemning the killings in Arsi, set against the Synod hall. [EOTC TV]

The Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church said on Monday that 60 of its faithful were killed in two attacks in the Arsi area of the Oromia region, 14 in Merti woreda on Oct. 20 and 46 in Shirka woreda on Oct. 24, and it ordered memorial prayers after the liturgy in all its churches around the world on Tuesday.

In the statement, which the church’s media service posted on Facebook and which BBC Amharic reported on Monday, the Synod’s plenary session said the 14 were killed at Gora Silingo in Angada kebele of Merti woreda and the 46 at Tereta, Chole and Birbo in Shirka woreda, that the homes of 20 believers were burned to the ground, and that more than 20 people were in hospital with serious wounds, according to a report from the Arsi diocese. It called the killings an inhuman act that “violates freedom of religion and the constitutional right to life” and said the massacres, displacement and harm done to “our innocent Orthodox children” in the Arsi diocese and other areas had gone on “without stopping” and were growing. The Synod asked the government bodies directly responsible to condemn the killings publicly, to bring those who carried them out to justice and to give believers the legal protection that would keep such attacks from happening again. It decided to meet senior government officials and ordered a committee of church fathers, scholars and lawyers to study a lasting solution, and it held a memorial prayer at the Patriarchate on Monday, according to Borkena and Kotet Amharic. Reuters reported the church’s count on Tuesday as at least 60 killed in two separate attacks.

The BBC said it could not independently verify the figures given by the Synod and by residents. Residents and church sources told it that at least five children were among the dead in Shirka and that everyone killed there was buried in a single grave at the local church, as BBC Tigrinya reported. Zegabi reported on Monday that at least 48 people were killed in the Shirka attack, according to Addis Standard, and that a witness told DW about 55 had died, as Zegabi reported. Both figures are higher than the Synod’s 46 for Shirka.

Survivors told DW Amharic more about Saturday’s attack on Birbo and Chole kebele. The daughter of Kebede Mandefro, a respected elder who was killed together with his brother, Niguse Mandefro, said she carried her child into a maize field to hide and then moved from house to house toward the church. “When I reached the church door, I found my father lying there,” she said. A resident who asked not to be named said the kebele’s own armed guards held off the attackers for about three hours, that their chief, Abebe Getachew, was killed after he ran out of bullets, and that houses were set on fire before regional security forces arrived at about 11 a.m. A member of the local administration told DW that the security forces came late and that this made the toll worse, as DW’s Seyoum Getu reported.

Hailu Adugna, the head of the Oromia regional communication bureau, said on Sunday that a force “calling itself Tsimdo” carried out the attack to stir up ethnic and religious conflict after its losses in northern Ethiopia, that the regional government was taking action against those he called terrorist forces, and that a regional committee had been set up to resettle the people who fled, DW reported. Tsimdo, an Amharic word for alliance, is what Ethiopian officials call the coalition of armed groups that includes the Oromo Liberation Army. DW said it could not reach the OLA for comment. DW noted that the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has blamed the OLA for earlier attacks in Arsi, which the group has denied. The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) has counted 458 people killed and 38 missing in attacks on civilians in the area in the four years up to May 2026, BBC Tigrinya reported, adding that no group has ever formally taken responsibility for the attacks.

On Tuesday, EOTC TV reported that Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, the head of India’s Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, a sister Oriental Orthodox church, had condemned the killing of Ethiopian Orthodox believers in Arsi and called for justice.

On X, people argued over who was to blame and whether the church had said enough. Tedla Asfaw (@YeGodanaNewte), who describes himself as a human rights activist, replied to Addis Standard in English that Hailu Adugna “must be held accountable for misinforming the public” and wrote that “accusing ‘Tsimdo’ is to cover up for the Oromo security forces’ role in future investigation.” Masresha Mamo (@YPartiy38629) posted in Afaan Oromoo, “Shirka: We condemn the attack carried out on peaceful citizens!” and wrote that “Shane, Fano, the TPLF and the Tsimdo groups” had joined together “to destroy the country” by taking the lives of peaceful people. The same words were posted by several other accounts on Monday. Tesfa (@abb0039) turned on the church leadership in Amharic. “It would be too little if we condemned this Synod and said it does not represent us Orthodox Tewahedo Christians,” he wrote. “If it does not condemn our killers while we pay its salary, we have the right to condemn it.”

Sources