Ethiopian official says gunmen attacked a commercial farm in Ethiopia's western Gambella region and killed five workers. According to Ethiopia’s government spokesman Shimeles Kemal the attackers wounded nine people as they shot indiscriminately late Saturday at workers on the vast farm on Sunday. The property is owned by Mohammed Al-Amoudi, an Ethiopian-born Saudi businessman who is among the world's richest men.

He said that among the dead were four Ethiopians and a Pakistani national. Five Pakistanis were among the wounded.

The official said six of the suspected assailants are now in police custody and that it is still unclear why the farm was targeted.

Recently, opponents of relocation and commercialization program had shot dead 19 students. So far Ethiopia has leased out 400,000 hectares acres of land over the past four years to investors including Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc. The government may increase a so-called land bank that sets aside 3.6 million hectares of Ethiopia’s total 110.4 million hectares for commercialization. According to the California-based advocacy group, Oakland Institute, this has led to “human rights violations and the forced relocation of over a million Ethiopians,” in Gambella and the nation’s southern region. But the Ethiopian government denies human- rights violations and any connection between investment and a resettlement program that it says is voluntary.