The TPLF junta senior leaders, including former Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin, have been killed, according to Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF).
ENDF Deployment Head, Brigadier General Tesfaye Ayalew told ENA that three junta leaders were destroyed with their guards in a shootout near Tekeze River.
Even if the junta leadership had been given 48 hours to surrender during the final law enforcement operation in Mekelle at the end of last October, and now approached by elders to surrender peacefully they arrogantly rejected the call and decided to fight, Brigadier General Tesfaye elaborated.
Following the defiance, the junta leaders listed below were destroyed along with their guards.
Seyoum Mesfin −− Former Minister of Foreign Affairs who led the fight.
Asmelash Woldesellassie −− senior political leader of the junta.
Abay Tsehaye −− senior political leader of the junta.
Colonel Kiros Hagos −− Defector from the National Defense Force.
On other hand, the following military officers and regional leaders were captured.
Colonel Gebremeskel Gebrekidan −− Defector from the National Defense Force
Colonel Fisseha Berhane −− Defector from the National Defense Force
Colonel Zerabruk Tadesse −− Defector from the National Defense Force
Commander Gebrekidan Asgedom −− Commander of the Special Forces
Mebrahtom Kinde Hailu −− Former Head of the regional Water Works Construction Enterprise
The ENDF Deployment Department Head, Brigadier General Tesfaye Ayalew has called on some members of the junta who are still hiding in caves to surrender peacefully.
He also called on the security guards of the junta not to waste their precious lives to meaninglessly defend the doomed junta.
The head stressed that the national defense force has intensified the hunt to capture the rest of the junta leaders.