The Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) has announced the death of a former Ethiopian foreign minister, Seyoum Mesfin.
Seyoum was Ethiopia’s foreign minister from 1991 to 2010.
The Head of the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) Deployment Department, Brig.- Gen. Tesfaye Ayalew, said Mesfin died during a battle in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia.
Ayalew said Mesfin was killed alongside Asmelash Woldeselassie, former Ethiopia parliament Chief Whip and Abay Tsehaye, former Ethiopian Minister of Federal Affairs, during a battle earlier on Wednesday.
The three Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) officials were killed, and five other party members were captured, after they refused to surrender to the military, the government’s task force for the crisis in Tigray said on Twitter.
Ayalew said five other civilian officials and army officers were captured in the military operation.
Ethiopia’s federal government has been carrying out military operations in against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) since Nov. 4.
The TPLF ruled over the region following the TPLF’s apparent attack on the Northern Command of the ENDF.