Ethiopia: Mayor of Gulisso in western Oromia shot dead by gunmen

Abebe Tekalign, mayor of Guliso, in western Oromia, was shot dead by gunmen at the entrance of his residence.

The funeral of the mayor who has governed the city for the past few months was also reported yesterday. Mr. Abebe, was killed by gunmen outside his homes on Sunday evening, The head of the Guliso District and Security office Mr. Tesfa Likasa, told to the BBC. “He was shot in the head with two bullets on his house entrance” the security office official said.

After that the gunmen entered to the mayor’s home and took a laptop, which has a list of local officials,” Mr. Tesfa added. It is also reported that the number of gunmen who killed the mayor are about six, the mayor family told to the security officials.

The murder was made on the night, during the attack, on Sunday night mayor Abebe Tekalign, a father of two, was watching television with his children and also typing on his laptop.

At about four o’clock, a search for the mayor has been called out, for that response his child who is under 10 was try to open the door. But his father (the mayor) prohibited his child to go out. Then he open the door. As soon as that the mayor shot dead with two bullets on the front of door. In addition to previous attacks on residents in western Oromia, local authorities have been the target of the militants. A few months ago, the Qelem Welega Zone head of the Security office and ODP was killed.

At the same time, the president of the University of Dembidolo was abducted by gunmen, and the mayor of the same district of Dembidolo had been shot but alive after treatment.

Is anyone caught?

There is no suspects yet to be arrested after the killings, and police are conducting surveillance to arrest the perpetrators, Tesfa said. The wife of the mayor who was killed by gunmen spoke to security officials after the incident, according to Tesfa Likas, the attackers were wearing civilian clothes.

Because of this, the countryside and urban dwellers pose a serious security threat, and the businessman is fleeing to another city. The farmers are fleeing from rural to urban areas, they told the BBC earlier about security concerns that residents had entered.

After the killings, local residents, especially civil servants, were overwhelmed, the head of the security office said.

“Government employees were afraid. They are not coming to work on Monday because they feared that the killings could happen to us.” “We believe that the gunmen who carried out the area and called themselves the OLF were the perpetrators,” the official said.

It was recalled yesterday that two people were shot and killed by gunmen in Qelem Welega Zone, Gidami town two days before Saturday’s killing.

“There was a shooting on Saturday night. It was there that the two people were killed. We cannot identify who killed them,” the local resident told us, who did not mention his name for security reason.

Months of attacks and killings of residents and government officials in Western Oromia have taken place in the Oromia region, and no official responsible for the attack has been found. One year ago, the Ethiopian Commercial Bank, Oromia Cooperative Bank, and Awash Bank were looted by gunmen in the same city of Guliso. At that time, the government had informed the OLF members had committed the robbery.