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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Ethiopia rebels retake regional capital

Children, who fled the violence in Ethiopia’s, Tigray region, wait in line for breakfast organised by a self-volunteer Mahlet Tadesse, 27, in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray region. — AFP
Children, who fled the violence in Ethiopia’s, Tigray region, wait in line for breakfast organised by a self-volunteer Mahlet Tadesse, 27, in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray region. — AFP
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GONDAR: Tigrayan forces made further gains against Ethiopian government troops and their allies on Tuesday, with a spokesman reporting they were in full control of the regional capital while in the northern town of Shire, residents said Eritrean forces had left.


“We are 100 per cent in control of Mekelle,” Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), said on Tuesday, referring to the regional capital. There had been some fighting on the outskirts of the city, but that was now finished, he said.


“Our forces are still in hot pursuit to south, east, to continue until every square inch of territory is cleared from the enemy.”


Reuters could not independently verify his statement because almost all phone links to Tigray are down. But on Monday evening before phone links went down, residents said soldiers had disappeared from the streets and TPLF forces entered Mekelle. Residents greeted them with flags and songs, witnesses said.


A spokeswoman for Ethiopia’s prime minister, the head of a government taskforce on Tigray, an Ethiopian military spokesman and Eritrea’s information minister did not return messages seeking comment.


The TPLF, an ethnically based political party that dominated Ethiopia’s national politics for nearly three decades, has been battling the central government since early November and has made major territorial gains in the past week. — Reuters


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