Gunmen in Ethiopia have shot and killed five workers from a mining company in the restive west on Tuesday, residents said, with a TV station reporting two foreigners among the dead.
The unidentified attackers struck near Nedjo town, about 500 km (310 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa in the Oromiya region where several conflicts simmer, the inhabitants told Reuters.
State-affiliated Fana Broadcasting said on Twitter three Ethiopians and two foreign nationals had died in the incident early on Tuesday. It did not give their countries.
The huge region is home to Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, and has at least four separate conflicts in addition to a border dispute constantly threatening violence.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, himself an Oromo, has overseen a series of major political and economic changes since coming to office in April 2018 – making peace with arch-foe Eritrea, freeing political prisoners, pledging to open up the state-controlled economy and promising to overhaul security services.
But the reforms have not stopped ethnically-charged violence – including in his own native region.