ADDIS ABABA, 24 December, 2020, (TON): Gunmen killed more than 100 people in a dawn attack in the western Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia on Wednesday, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said, as residents described fleeing the latest deadly assault in an area bedevilled by ethnic violence.

Wednesday's attack in the Benishangul-Gumuz region came a day after a visit by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

In a statement, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said the attack took place in the village of Bekoji, which lies in an area home to multiple ethnic groups.

"More than 100 people have been killed in fires and shooting perpetrated by armed men" during the pre-dawn attack, the commission said.

Beyene Melese, a spokesperson for the state government, blamed what he called "anti-peace elements" for the attack.

Africa’s second-most populous nation has been grappling with regular outbreaks of deadly violence since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was appointed in 2018 and accelerated democratic reforms that loosened the state’s iron grip on regional rivalries.

Elections due next year have further inflamed simmering tensions over land, power and resources.

The violence in the area is not thought to be related to a ground and air offensive launched by the government in the northern Tigray region last month.

Hundreds, or even thousands, of people are thought to have been killed in that conflict, while about 50,000 have fled to neighbouring Sudan.