Internet in eastern Ethiopia shut down amid regional violence - residents

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Authorities have shut down the Internet in eastern Ethiopia amid an outbreak of violence in the region, a local resident said on Wednesday.

The resident, speaking from the city of Harar, some 100 km (60 miles) from Jijiga, the capital of the region of Somali, said the connection had been off for three days. Rights group Access Now confirmed the shutdown in a statement on Tuesday.

Violence broke out in Jijiga on Saturday, with mobs looting properties owned by ethnic minorities, in unrest that the government said had been stoked by regional officials at odds with central authorities.

(Reporting by Maggie Fick; Editing by George Obulutsa and John Stonestreet)