Battle of Tiro
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Battle of Tiro | |
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Part of the Tiro, Ethiopia 8°54′23″N 40°39′00″E / 8.906441°N 40.650047°E | |
Result | Ethiopian victory |
Ahmad Taqi †
The Battle of Tiro took place in August 1974 that was fought between the Oromo Liberation Army, then led by Elemo Qiltu, and Ethiopian government forces.[1]
Background
The
Battle
In late August 1974, a unit of the Oromo Liberation Army came down from the Chercher Mountains and made their way closer to
When a soldier was sent to retrieve the recruits, it was discovered that the three had been killed by a government militia that had followed the unit to Tiro. Before long, police and more militiamen from the three nearby towns started arriving at the base of the mountain surrounding it. The Oromo Liberation Army soldiers took high positions and began to engage these troops managing to kill most of the poorly trained militia. Elemo Qiltu, the OLA commander, was injured and so he descended down from the mountain and began to engage troops from the surrounding crop fields.[2]
The fighting continued from dawn until noon, when General Getachew's troops finally arrived from the Chercher Mountains and began to shell the mountain. The government troops also surrounded Elemo Qiltu, leading to his surrender. He called for the soldiers to come and pick him up since he was injured, but blew himself up with a grenade as the Ethiopian soldiers approached him. The government troops managed to get midway up the mountain, capturing a few rebels, but were unable to capture the rest who broke their lines and escaped.[2]
Aftermath
The Ethiopian government punished the population in the area by instigating a wave of mass arrests and killings in the surrounding towns of Gelemso,
References
- ^ "Ahmad Taqi". 15 April 2010.
- ^ a b c "2004 Interview with Dhugassa Bakako, survivor of the Battle of Tiro". 2004.
- ^ "Birth of the Oromo Liberation Front". Archived from the original on 2017-06-29. Retrieved 2014-02-01.