ADDIS ABABA, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Clashes in Ethiopia's central Oromia regional state have left at least six people dead, an Ethiopian official said on Monday.
Alemayehu Ejigu, Commissioner, Oromia Police Commission, said clashes in the weekend over ownership of a park in Goba city, 416 kilometers east of Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa, left at least six dead and an undetermined amount of property damage, reported state affiliated media outlet Walta Information Center.
He further said the death toll from the clashes could increase as there are several others with critical injuries, with regional and federal security forces currently deployed in the area to prevent a recurrence of the violence.
Witnesses who spoke to Xinhua said the park had been used as a spot for Ethiopian Timket (Epiphany) celebrations by a mostly migrant Christian population but locals who are mostly Muslims wanted to build a statue to a local hero on the same spot.
The dispute turned into bloody clashes over the weekends with the two sides using rocks, sticks and knives to fight each other.
Ethiopia is a heavily religious country with about 98 percent of the East African country's estimated 100 million population professing to follow a religion.
Muslims make up about 33 percent of the population and are generally well integrated into the wider Ethiopian society, although in recent years the Ethiopian government has warned of a danger of rise in extremism among a section of the Muslim community.
Christians of various denominations make up more than 60 percent of Ethiopia's population and generally live in harmony with their Muslim peers.
However, disputes over land rights and resource sharing have at times taken on a religious character leading occasionally into deadly clashes.
