ADDIS ABABA, Feb 11: Attackers from the Anuak ethnic group killed 200 people in a single day in western Ethiopia late last month, the government said on Wednesday.

"On 30th January, in the Dima district of Gambella bordering the Sudan, 196 people were killed, of whom 172 were traditional miners mainly from the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples state," Ethiopia's ministry of federal affairs said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what ethnic group or groups the victims came from. It takes a while for information to trickle into the capital Addis Ababa from remote towns due to poor communication.

Dima is some 250kms west of Gambella, where human rights groups said hundreds of people were killed in December following clashes between the Nuer ethnic group and the Anuak, who are also sometimes spelt Anyua.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR and the World Food Programme have evacuated all their international staff, according to the UNHCR. -Reuters