Gunmen in western Ethiopia kill at least 34 people in bus attack, rights body says

Gunmen in western Ethiopia killed at least 34 people in an attack on a bus on Saturday night, the national human rights body said on Sunday, as fears grow of a security vacuum in the country amid a military campaign in the north.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said the number of people killed was likely to rise after what it called a "gruesome" attack on the passenger bus in the Benishangul-Gumuz region. It said there were reports of "similar" attacks, and of people fleeing the violence, in other parts of the region.

“The latest attack is a grim addition to the human cost which we bear collectively," Daniel Bekele, commission head, said in a statement.

He urged regional and federal authorities to work together on a strategy for Benishangul-Gumuz due to the "unrelenting pace" of attacks there. Armed militia men killed at least 45 people in the same region in September, according to the Ethiopian government.

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The violence comes amid a 12-day-old war between the Ethiopian government and the restive Tigray region in the country`s north. Experts say that conflict could encourage other ethnic groups to exploit the chaos to push for more autonomy, while the redeployment of forces to Tigray could leave other regions exposed.