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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
Former Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin was killed in a shooting on Wednesday, according to a local news agency.
Missing Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) members Asmelash Woldeselassie, Abbay Tsehaye and Colonel Kiros Hagos were also killed when the four men defied orders to surrender, the Ethiopian state news agency quoted Brig as saying. General Tesfaye Ayalew in a statement.
All four were killed, along with their guards, when they opened fire on a search team of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and the Federal Police on the banks of the Tekezze River in western Tigray.
Seyoum led and organized an attempted insurrection by members of the TPLF “junta” against the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in 2018.
The leaders killed belonged to a group that organized an attack on November 3 by TPLF forces against the Northern Command of the federal army, according to Tesfaye, who is the head of the deployment department of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces.
An operation is underway to detain TPLF militants and operatives as more fighters hide in the northernmost region of Tigray, which is being ruled by an interim administration.
Tesfaye reiterated demands that those in hiding surrender peacefully.
He said Colonels Gebremeskel Gebrekidan, Fisseha Birhane and Zerabiruk Tadesse were captured during the search operation, along with Commander Gebrekidan Asgedom and Mebrahtom Kinde Hailu.
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