News: Grenade explosion, gunshot kills three, wounds more than 50 in Moyale town
Moyale town communication and Oromia regional state administrative and security bureaus blamed “Liyu Police” and “armed forces from Ethio-Somali regional state” respectively for the explosion
Mahlet Fasil
Addis Abeba, April 17/2018 – A grenade explosion at the bus station in Ethiopia’s Moyale town, 790 km south of Addis Abeba, on the border between Ethiopia and Kenya, has killed three and wounded more than 50, according to information from the Oromia regional state administrative & security bureau. The Moyale town communication office also reported the explosion.
The town’s communication office blamed members of the “Liyu Force”, a controversial paramilitary force operating in Ethio-Somali regional state, while the statement from the Oromia regional state administrative & security bureau said military forces armed by the Ethio-Somali regional state.
On the other hand, Kenyan based SIFA Marsebit radio station quoted Moyale Hospital CEO Kussu Abduba as confirming receiving of eight casualties. “We have received four people with gun shots and another four with bomb pellets lounged in their bodies. We have attended to them and now in stable condition”, Kassu was quoted as saying. Galgallo Guyo, an eye witness who spoke to the radio station also gave “accounts of two dead bodies and over 20 injured taken to Fulesa and other health facilities.”
The statement from the Oromia regional state administrative & security bureau, posted on its Facebook page, further blamed members of the federal army under the command post and are overseeing the current state of emergency as failing to protect the safety of civilians.
Months of violence along the Ethio-Somali and Oromia regional state borders has caused the death of hundreds and the displacement of more than a million civilians.
On March 10 this year at least ten civilians were shot to death by members of the Ethiopian army in Moyale town. Eleven others were also wounded, four of them critically. The military violence also displaced tens of thousands of civilians from various localities.
#Ethiopia – PM #AbiyAhmed is in #Jigjiga, in Ethio-Somali regional state. He received a warm welcome by Prsesident Abdi Mohamed Omar, a.k.a Abdi Illy, & residents. The news of his visit was circulating on SM earlier. This amateur video was posted by an individual Teddy Manjus. pic.twitter.com/tUrAHf4SXS
— Addis Standard (@addisstandard) April 7, 2018
On April 07, Ethiopia’s newly appointed Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed made his first country tour to Jigjiga, the capital of Ethio-Somali regional state, to dispel tensions between the two regional states. Abdi Mohamed Omar a.k.a Abdi Illey, and Lemma Megerssa, the presidents of Ethio-Somali and Oromia regional states respectively, have promised to resolve their differences and resettle the displaced civilians. AS
