TPLF security forces kill 9 residents in Kobo town, Northern Ethiopia

by Engidu Woldie

ESAT News (January 25, 2018)

Soldiers for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that operate under the guise of the national army of Ethiopia shot and killed at least nine people in Kobo town, Northern Ethiopia.

(TPLF soldiers entering Kobo town January 25, 2018)

Residents of Kobo, a town sitting on one of the major routes to Tigray, were denouncing the killing of at least 13 people by TPLF forces on Saturday in a nearby town 31 kilometers away, Woldia.

Video obtained exclusively by ESAT show several TPLF soldiers, disguised in national army uniforms, entering the town today as gunfire is heard in the background.

Sources said one TPLF soldier was also killed.

Angry residents burnt several local administrative offices, businesses affiliated with the regime and four trucks.

Witnesses also told ESAT that TPLF forces were shooting from helicopters to disperse protesters.

Meanwhile, Selam Bus, a TPLF transportation business, has announced that it was forced to redirect its routes to Mekele, Tigray due to security situations. Selam Bus has been targeted by protesters who see it as a business benefitting the regime. Some buses have been set ablaze in the last few years of protests.

Northern Ethiopia has in recent years seen strong display of protests against the TPLF, a minority regime that has politically and economically favored Tigrayans marginalizing the majority.

Protests against the TPLF regime has also been seen in towns in Southern Ethiopia. Residents of Wolkite town, 93 miles Southwest of the capital Addis Ababa took to the streets yesterday to denounce the regime. Residents were angered by a decision to move a project to build a hospital in the town to Tigray region.