Non-Tigrayan members of the intelligence and security detained

ESAT News (June 29, 2016)

The TPLF regime is reportedly detaining non-Tigrayan members of the intelligence and security after unknown assailants killed 9 intelligence operatives in the last four months, according to sources close to ESAT.

The spies being rounded up by the regime were suspected of involvement in the killing of the operatives that include three intelligence operation coordinators for the Ethiopian regime in Somalia. Most of the detained were ethnic Oromos and include security guards of the late dictator, Meles Zenawi.

According to the sources, commandos who played a role in securing the release of a French intelligence and TPLF soldiers who were taken hostage by the Al Shabaab were also among those detained by the regime. The commandos were offered a lump sum for that operation by the US and EU. The sources said the commandos were also previously put behind bars after confrontations with army commanders who reportedly pocketed most of the payments.

The results of the investigations by a committee tasked to probe into the killing of the spies has been inconclusive but leans more towards the postulation that the killings were an inside job rather than an act by foreign elements. The source also revealed that following the killing of the operatives in Somalia, the safety of TPLF soldiers in that country has been in great peril.

The arrest and sacking of spies targeting non-Tigrayan members of the intelligence would worsen the already tense environment within the regime’s intelligence and security, according to the sources.