By Neelam Rahim

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed reported a massacre Monday by rebels during a restive region where a rebel group opposing his government is accused of targeting civilians amid fighting with government troops.

Abiy said the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), was designated a terrorist organization by Addis Ababa and was “inflicting damage” on people as its fighters fled an offensive by security forces in western Oromia.

“Citizens living within the Qellem Wollega zone of Oromia state are massacred,” he said on Twitter, without giving details.

“We will pursue this terrorist organization to the tip and eradicate it,” he added.

Abiy’s office didn’t provide death figures, and it was impossible to verify the data as access to Oromia is restricted. The region where the killings came about was also under a communications blackout.

Officials have blamed the OLA for a variety of killings targeting Amharas, Ethiopia’s second-largest group, although the rebels have denied responsibility.

The US-based Amhara Association of America (AAA) said during a message to AFP that the attack targeted Amhara in Mender 20 (Village 20) within the Hawa Gelan district of Qellem Wollega.

“One of our investigators did refer to three eyewitnesses… hiding in an exceedingly forest nearby,” the AAA said, adding that the attack began at 6:00 am on Monday and was still occurring when he spoke to the witnesses around noon.

It said the telecommunications network within the zone had been cut since around 1:00 pm.

In June, several hundred people, mostly Amhara, were massacred by shooters within the village of Tole in West Wollega, a section adjacent to Qellem Wollega, per witnesses.

UN rights chief Michele Bachelet called on the Ethiopian authorities to conduct “prompt, impartial and thorough” investigations into the Tole attack.