NAIROBI (Somaliguardian) – Angry protesters in Ethiopia’s Somali region blocked and damaged a railway line linking the landlocked Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa with the Red Sea state of Djibouti after special forces of the Afar regional government killed dozens of Somali civilians in an attack on the town of Garba-Isse on Monday.
It comes days after Tigray rebels advanced into Afar region in an offensive aimed to disrupt mobilization by local and federal forces, who are planning launch a large-scale offensive on the war-wrecked region.
Footage circulated on social media shows dozens of angry people blocking and torching parts of the railway. Protesters also blocked a key road linking the Ethiopian capital with Djibouti, where most of the land-locked country’s cargo transits go through.
Afar regional special forces bolstered by local militias killed dozens of Somalis and looted properties following an attack in the town of Garba-Isse in the Somali region’s Sitti zone.
Ethiopia’s federal government and authorities of the Somali region have not immediately commented on the protests, which come amid escalating ethnic tensions by conflict in the northern region of Tigray.
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