ObjectiveA good self-care practice is important for patients with diabetes to achieve the desired treatment targets and to contribute meaningfully in the management of their disease. The study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of diabetes self-care and to identify the factors associated with diabetes self-care.ResultsA total of 338 patients with diabetes having mean age of 45.8 years were included in the study. Among those 70.4%, 70.4% and 25.5% of the patients had a good knowledge, attitude and self-care practices, respectively. Being male (AOR = 2.7, 95% CI 1.30–5.65), living in urban (AOR = 3.37, 95% CI 1.39–8.15) and earning medium income (AOR = 2.55, 95% CI 1.15–5.65) were significantly associated with having good knowledge of self-care while being widowed (AOR = 0.15, 95% CI 0.03–0.70) was associated with having poor knowledge. Having a higher income (AOR = 7.95, 95% CI 1.54–41.12) was significantly associated with a good attitude towards diabetic self-care. However, taking both insulin and oral hypoglycemics (AOR = 0.06, 95% CI 0.01–0.67) was associated with a poor attitude. Being Muslim (AOR = 3.14, 95% CI 1.28–7.91), living in urban areas (6.47, 95% CI 1.38–30.43) and earning high income (AOR = 3.03, 95% CI 1.10–8.35) were determinant of good self-care practice. Efforts should be made to improve self-care practices of patients in closing the gap between knowledge and practice.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-019-4072-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.