Places of worship,
damaged or destroyed.

A sourced inventory of Orthodox churches, monasteries and congregations attacked, burned or shelled across the Amhara region and the Arsi zone of Oromia between 2024 and 2026 — each entry referenced to its source.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is not only a faith but a built inheritance — monasteries, rock-hewn churches and parish compounds that anchor entire communities. Between 2024 and 2026, a series of attacks has reached those places themselves: a church entered mid-service, a monastery shelled, a parish church burned to the ground.

This page is a running, sourced inventory of those incidents. It is not a comprehensive census, and it carries no graphic material; it records the attacks that have been independently reported, each entry linked to the international outlet, church statement or human-rights body that documented it. The fuller narrative is set out in our investigation.

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01 · The recordDocumented attacks, 2024–2026.

Place of worship
Attacks on places of worship and clergy — sourced
3 Oct 2024
East Shewa, Oromia. The priest Wolde Eyesus Ayalew and members of his family were murdered, part of a wave of targeted clergy killings. Source: East African Review
Oct 2025
East Arsi, Oromia. More than 25 civilians were reported killed in attacks on Orthodox communities during October; Ethiopian Catholic bishops condemned the violence. Source: ACI Africa
26 Feb 2026
East Arsi, Oromia. Gunmen stormed a market and entered a church mid-service, killing about 20 Orthodox Christians and a Muslim guard; a priest was among the dead. Source: Open Doors UK
28 Feb 2026
Atronse Mariam monastery, Mehal Sayint, Amhara. A heavy-weapon attack on the monastery killed six people and wounded more than 20. Source: ACI Africa
2 Jun 2026
Aleko Teleta, Arsi, Oromia. St. Gabriel Church was torched and some 280 homes burned; at least 37 Orthodox Christians were killed. Source: Borkena
37 Orthodox Christians killed at Aleko Teleta in early June 2026, when St. Gabriel Church was torched and some 280 homes burned.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church's Holy Synod has condemned these killings and named the dead; Ethiopia's Catholic bishops have called for independent investigations. To date, neither the federal nor the regional authorities have opened a credible inquiry or held anyone to account.

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02 · Scope & methodWhat this inventory is — and is not.

Each entry above is drawn from a named, independent source and dated as precisely as the reporting allows. Where a figure is contested or provisional, it is given as reported, not as established fact. The inventory is deliberately conservative: it omits incidents we could not source to a credible outlet, and it will be extended as further attacks are verified.

For the most recent developments, see our Arsi field alert →; for the full background — heritage in the crossfire, the clergy targeted, and the wider pattern — read our investigation →.