ETHIOPIAN government troops killed four senior officials from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and detained nine others in an operation announced late on Thursday.

TPLF spokesperson Sekoture Getachew and former head of the Tigray finance bureau Daniel Assefa were killed along with former Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority chief Zeray Asgedom and Abebe Asgedom.

Ethiopian army spokesman General Tesfaye Aylew confirmed the killings in a statement. He said that nine TPLF officials were arrested, including former speaker of the regional parliament Kidusan Nega and former Ethiopian ambassador to Sudan Abadi Zemu.