by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) -
At least 500 Christians have been slaughtered, and thousands traumatized and displaced, in the last two months in Ethiopia’s Oromia state, the Christian Post reports. It is believed that those responsible for the recent door-to-door attacks and killings are members of a youth movement of Muslim men from the ethnic Oromo population.
According to the Barnabas Fund international Christian aid agency, members of the Qeerroo (meaning “bachelors”) youth movement reportedly began targeting and killing Christians after the assassination of popular Oromo singer Hachallu Hundessa on June 29.
“Some of the Qeerroo militants held lists of Christians and were helped by local authorities, often run by Muslims in the Oromia region, to find individuals, particularly those actively involved in supporting the Church,” the Barnabas Fund explained.
“The Qeerroo extremists arrived in cars and, armed with guns, machetes, swords, and spears, sought out and slaughtered Christians. Children were forced to witness their parents being brutally murdered with machetes,” the Barnabas Fund said. On one reported occasion, a Christian man was beheaded when he refused to remove a thread he wore around his neck as a symbol of his baptism. Killing him, the murderers told his wife that only those who prostrate themselves before Allah in prayer are part of the Oromo community.
It was also reported that a number of Muslims in the Bale Agarfa area had risked their lives to save Christians, while police stood by and did nothing but watch as attacks unfolded.