TEHRAN, June 20 (MNA) – Witnesses in Ethiopia said Sunday that more than 200 people, mostly ethnic Amhara, have been killed in an attack in the country's Oromia region and are blaming a rebel group, which denies it.It is one of the deadliest such attacks in recent memory as ethnic tensions continue in Africa's second-most populous country, according to NPR "I have counted 230 bodies.

I am afraid this is the deadliest attack against civilians we have seen in our lifetime," Abdul-Seid Tahir, a resident of Gimbi county, told The Associated Press after barely escaping the attack on Saturday.

"We are burying them in mass graves, and we are still collecting bodies.

Federal army units have now arrived, but we fear that the attacks could continue if they leave." Ethiopia is experiencing widespread ethnic tensions in several regions.

The Amhara people, the second-largest ethnic group among Ethiopia's more than 110 million population, have been targeted frequently in regions like Oromia.

MP/PR