ONM-ABO, 24 June 2026
The militarization of educational institutions has led to a horrific tragedy at the Qotaa Illoo Primary School in Dirree Hincinnii district, West Shewa. An outstanding eighth-grade student named Wabii Girmaayee was brutally assassinated inside the school compound by an armed gang acting under the directives of local PP officials. Investigations reveal that Wabii was explicitly targeted as an act of political retribution because his older brother is a member of the OLA ranks. School administrators have remained silent on the execution due to extreme intimidation from local security chiefs.
Meanwhile, in East Hararghe’s Meettaa district, government forces have converted civilian neighborhoods into open-air interrogation zones. PP cadres instituted forced public meetings in Saddoo kebele, pulling residents from their homes by force. During the assemblies, the cadres singled out the families of Oromo nationalists, delivering ominous ultimatums to immediately return their children from the forests or face total eviction. The administrators warned that the community would be held collectively liable for any future military actions occurring within the kebele. To reinforce this intimidation, the regime has deployed extra militias across the district, extorting 8,700 Birr per individual as an arbitrary “tax” alongside an additional 2,000 Birr under the fraudulent pretext of road infrastructure development.
A ruthless campaign of economic asset stripping has also devastated agrarian families in Jaarroo Siree kebele, Jaardagaa Jaartee district, Horro Guduru Wollega. Local PP cadres and militias forcefully expropriated 17 head of cattle valued at over one million Birr from a prominent farmer named Kiisii Ittaanaa, utilizing the fabricated pretext that he maintained communications with the OLA. This act of plunder follows a historical pattern of state terror inflicted upon the same family. Three years prior, regime forces targeted Kiisii’s father, Obbo Ittaanaa, looting over 20 cattle, 34 sheep, and his entire stored grain reserves, while stealing three million Birr in generational family savings. The soldiers concluded that operation by burning down the family compound and executing Obbo Ittaanaa. Local residents have identified the primary perpetrators of these continuous atrocities as native cadres who have betrayed their own community for regime favor: Fayyeeraa Hordofaa (Jaarroo Siree Kebele Administrator), Guyyee Fufaa (District Security Officer), Rattaa Beenyaa Abdiisaa (Local Militia Member), and Bookee Lammii (Militia Operative from Diimaa Jokii).
Internal discipline within the regime’s counter-insurgency units has collapsed into chaotic violence in Bofaa town, Boosat district, East Shewa. A group of heavily intoxicated militias and members of the specialized anti-guerrilla unit engaged in a violent altercation inside a local establishment over a dispute involving a civilian woman. The argument quickly escalated into open gun warfare, resulting in the immediate deaths of two militias, identified as Tulluu Gammachuu and Gabii Masqalee, alongside one unnamed anti-guerrilla operative. Another militia member, Leenjisoo, sustained life-threatening injuries and was transferred to Adama Hospital. As ground forces fracture from within, the federal government has intensified its terror campaign from the skies. Heavy combat aircraft and drones executed extensive intimidation flights over Boosat and Fantaallee districts. The low-altitude military maneuvers and the deafening sound of heavy weaponry effectively paralyzed all economic activity until mid-day, trapping residents in their homes. Activists have strongly condemned the regime for utilizing multimillion-dollar foreign combat aircraft to terrorize pastoralist communities who are already suffering from acute economic deprivation.
A horrifying multi-youth execution has been documented in the Wagidii Baddeessaa kebele of Meettaa Wal-qixxee district, West Shewa. State operatives abducted three young Oromo men and transported them to the notorious Wagidii military camp, where they were summarily executed. To maximize the psychological trauma inflicted upon the community, local military commanders issued a strict decree banning the families from retrieving the bodies for traditional burial, leaving the remains exposed to wild animals in the surrounding forest. A parallel campaign of arbitrary arrests and severe physical torture has gripped the populace of Gubbaa Qorichaa district in West Hararghe. Under the direct operational command of Mohaammed Hashiim, the administrator of Mi’eessoo kebele, local militias have been conducting systematic night raids against politically neutral civilians. Dozens of individuals, including numerous women and young children, have been thrown into makeshift prisons. Among those verified to be undergoing severe torture for consecutive months are Ahmed Aliishuu, Yaasin Jaalal, and Kadir Baalee.
In the Qixxee Teessisaa kebele of Siraaroo district, West Arsi, occupational forces have initiated a system of forced logistics extraction. Local PP commanders have begun harassing prominent farmers, including Badhaasoo Oogatoo, Jaarsoo Daksiisoo, and Fardaa Ganamoo, demanding that they slaughter their private livestock to feed government troops. Furthermore, in an admission of military vulnerability, the forces are routinely forcing these farmers at gunpoint to march ahead of military convoys into dense forests and mountainous terrain to act as human shields against potential OLA defensive ambushes. Simultaneously, economic sabotage has been weaponized against pastoralists in Baartaa Saamii kebele, Booraa district, East Shewa. In retaliation for successful OLA defensive maneuvers in neighboring areas, PP cadres have placed extensive agricultural bans on local families, blocking them from cultivating their fields. Among the heavily affected smallholders whose lands have been completely locked down by the state are Zallaqaa Kabbadaa (5 hectares confiscated), Mootummaa Baalchaa (7.5 hectares confiscated), and Guutumaa Garjii (10 hectares confiscated).
A horrific hate crime orchestrated under the shadow of regime complicity has shocked the Oromo community in Gambeelaa town. A young Oromo man named Ismaa’el Faasil was publicly attacked and slit across the throat with a dagger in broad daylight at the busy Gabaa Dam Bank marketplace. Despite the attack occurring in public, state security forces present in the area refused to intervene, allowing the perpetrators to flee without hindrance. Oromo residents in Gambeelaa state that ethnic profiling has risen to volatile levels due to deliberate state-sponsored anti-Oromo rhetoric. In a separate development, a devastating campaign of mass arson has been executed by government troops in Hamdaa Weezaroo kebele, Sulultaa district. A detachment of PP soldiers targeted residential compounds under the false accusation that the owners were providing food to the OLA. The soldiers deliberately set fire to multiple zinc-roofed and thatched residences, burning them to the ground along with all domestic assets. The confirmed victims who have been left entirely destitute include Obbo Tashoomaa Hordofaa, Obbo Ayyaanee Baay’isa, and Obbo Girmaa Hordofaa.
