34 killed in a gruesome attack on a passenger bus in Western Ethopia

Dozens of people have been killed by gunmen in a “gruesome” attack on a bus carrying commoners in western Ethiopia, as per to the country’s human rights society.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced in a report on Sunday that “the expected number of deaths, currently at 34, is expected to grow” from the attack which happened on Saturday midnight in the Debate central area of the Benishangul-Gumuz area.

The shooting on the commuter bus, which was travelling from Wonbera to Chagni, occurred in a part of the nation that has lately witnessed a spate of violent attacks on civilians.

EHRC head Daniel Bekele urged regional and federal authorities to work together on a strategy for Benishangul-Gumuz due to the “unrelenting pace” of attacks in the region.

“The latest attack is a grim addition to the human cost which we bear collectively,” he said

It said there were statements of “related” attacks, and of people leaving the intensity in other regions of the country, as well as “of people who have left to look for shelter”.

There was no direct knowledge about the attackers. The shooting came amid an increasing struggle between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray region in the nation's northern part that has recorded the killings of hundreds of people and transferred more than 20,000 people leaving over the edge in Sudan.

There is no associated connection between the destruction in Benishangul-Gumuz and army services in Tigray.