Seven Killed on the Chagni–Gilgel Beles Road as Metekel Is Attacked Again

Gunmen attacked a passenger vehicle travelling from Chagni to Gilgel Beles on Saturday, killing seven people and injuring four, a worker in Mandura district told Tikvah Ethiopia. The attack took place in the Metekel zone of the Benishangul Gumuz region, which has absorbed repeated armed attacks over the past several years.

The official who spoke to Tikvah said nobody has established who carried out the attack. "We don't know who are the creators of the problem," he said. He added that a member of the police force known to the passengers was present at the scene, and that there is still no concrete information about who the attackers were.

A corridor, not an incident

Chagni and Gilgel Beles sit at either end of the road that carries people, produce and trade goods across Metekel. It is the artery that connects the zone's farms and small traders to the rest of the region, and to the Amhara market beyond it. When a vehicle on that road is attacked and nobody is identified afterwards, the effect on commerce is not confined to the day of the attack — it is priced into every subsequent journey as higher transport costs, thinner insurance cover and fewer drivers willing to take the load.

Metekel's agricultural potential has been one of the standing arguments for investment in Benishangul Gumuz. That argument depends on the road working.

Open

No federal or regional authority has confirmed the casualty figures, and none has attributed the attack. It is not known whether anyone has been detained, or whether the policeman reported at the scene was on duty. The region's government, which on the same weekend was hosting a cultural festival in Asosa, has said nothing publicly about the attack.

Sources: Tikvah Ethiopia, 27 September 2026