Ethiopia says it killed 20 members of gang behind massacres

NAIROBI, May 18, 2004 (dpa) — Ethiopia has said its forces killed 20 members of an armed gang responsible for several massacres in the western Gambella region, news reports said Tuesday.

The government said the gang leader, a former army officer known as Major Kut, was probably among the dead.

The Gambella region in western Ethiopia, on the border with Sudan, has seen an increase in violence between ethnic groups in recent months. The BBC said around 200 people have been killed.

A former governor in Gambella told the BBC that the Ethiopian military had taken sides in the ethnic conflict there, backing militias from the highlands who have attacked people from the local Anuak tribe.

The government has denied the allegations.