MSF ‘horrified’ as colleagues murdered in Ethiopia

NAIROBI, Kenya — The medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Friday it was “horrified by the brutal murder” of three colleagues in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the latest attack on humanitarian workers helping civilians in the deadly conflict there.

A statement by the aid group, also known by its French acronym MSF, said two Ethiopian colleagues and one from Spain were found dead Friday, a day after colleagues lost contact with them while they were traveling.

“This morning the vehicle was found empty and a few meters away, their lifeless bodies,” the statement said.

In a statement, Ethiopia’s foreign ministry expressed condolences for the deaths it said occurred in the town of Abi Addi, and it suggested that Tigray fighters were to blame. It also called for military escorts — a thorny issue for many aid groups because Ethiopian forces, like all sides in the conflict, have been accused of abuses.