ADDIS ABABA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Violence in western Ethiopia's Benishangul Gumuz Regional State left 10 people dead as police arrested 46 suspects in connection with the deadly violence that rocked different parts of the region, regional justice and security administration bureau revealed Thursday.
The deadly violence that affected the regional capital Assosa town and other parts of the region has killed 10 people and injured 38 others, state affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC) reported on Thursday.
Assosa town, capital of Ethiopia's Benishangul Gumuz Regional state, has been experiencing a deadly violence for the past three days that initially started from a quarrel between two individuals, eventually leading to a deadly ethnic dispute among the locals and other ethnic groups residing in the region.
Police has so far arrested some 46 suspects who are said to be behind the deadly violence, which was also accompanied by robbery in parts of the regional capital, the regional communication affairs office revealed on Wednesday.
The violence, which is now under control, however still affected Assosa's normal daily activities as businesses are closed and the movement of people also restrained, it was noted.
The violence in Assosa town occurred amid relatively better security situations that are witnessed in the East African country, which has seen recurrent violent demonstrations since the second half of 2016.
Benishangul Gumuz Regional State, located in Western Ethiopia along the Ethiopia-Sudan border, hosts Ethiopia's largest development project - the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam , which is under construction on the Blue Nile River with a construction cost of 80 billion Ethiopian birr (close to 4.7 billion U.S. dollars).
The construction of the dam, which will be regarded as Africa's largest dam upon completion with a total volume of 74,000 million cubic meters, has boosted Assosa's socioeconomic status as its role in national affairs has also improved since then.
Chains of ethnic conflicts had recently affected Ethiopia's Southern region, in which the various ethnic groups in the Southern region went into deadly disputes killing some 27 people, according to a recent report by the region's police commission.
A bomb attack that hit a mass rally organized in support of Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, had also on last Saturday left two people dead and 156 injured in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, according to figures given by the Ministry of Health.
