Police Arrest 14 Suspects linked with Deadly Conflict in Ben.-Gumuz
ADDIS ABABA – Fourteen suspects have been arrested in connection with the deadly conflict in the Benishangul-Gumuz regional state, said Abera Bayeta, the region’s security bureau head, on Tuesday.
At least eight people were killed and 11 more injured in this week’s conflict in Genete Mariam kebele, Metekel zone, of the region that borders South Sudan and Sudan.
The conflict started on Sunday after “unidentified individuals” attacked the administrator of Genete Mariam kebele with a knife and took away his gun, officials said.
Abera said 14 individuals have been apprehended, on suspicion of murder and instigating in the conflict, together with several metal-tipped arrows and a gun.
Properties have been damaged, apart from lives lost, as a result of the conflict. The area has now been stabilized with the help of the federal police, the region officials said.
In April, a conflict, which started as a disagreement over cash between laborers and turned into ethnic friction, claimed more than a dozen lives in the Metekel zone of the region.
