The base, located in Agulae, a town some 32 kilometers northeast of Mekele, capital of the state of Tigray, was used to train illegally recruited citizens, according to the official communication.

The press release refers that the federal forces have lately stepped up operations against the TPLF, and destroyed several sites, including some in which “the terrorist group stored weapons and produced fake Ethiopian army uniforms.”

Last November, the Front attacked the army’s Northern Command in Tigray and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered an offensive to confront it and restore order in the jurisdiction as part of the law enforcement process.

Before the end of that month, the Government seized Mekele, informed the operation was a howling success and an Interim Government began to manage a return to normality in the northern region, although some of the group’s leaders escaped.

To facilitate agricultural work in the rainy season and to guarantee the flow of humanitarian assistance, the authorities unilaterally decreed a cease-fire in June, but the TPLF rejected it and since then, in addition to increasing its belligerence, war violence extended to Afar and Amhara.

After almost a year of hostilities, the conflict persists and its devastation ranges from deaths, displacements and destruction of infrastructure, to humanitarian crisis and danger of famine by 2022.

pgh/omr/jha/raj