Reports that reached our service desk from the city of Fiiq, Ogaden, confirm a fierce battle that took place in the outskirts of the city on Wednesday December 26th, 2007. It is reported that this fierce firefight took place in an area known as Cagajiid, which is about fifteen kilometers east of the city.

As indicated by eyewitnesses on the ground, many Tigray People Liberation Front (Woyanne) troops and a local militia consisting mainly of civil servants of the so-called local administration, left the city for Cagajiid where it was reported that a large contingent of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) military personnel were present at the time.

Locals reported that ONLF reconnaissance units succeeded in getting information of the impending attack plans of the TPLF and the local militia, which was spearheaded by a man known as Abdi Ileey who claims to be the head of the security bureau for the local administration.

The locals who were at the time passing through the area indicated that ONLF was able to position itself in both the main road that passes through the town as well as many of the straits that dot Cagajiid to prepare for a well coordinated ambush. This version of ONLF plans was later confirmed by a member of the civil servants conscripted to be part of the militia that went to Cagajiid.

The civil servant intimated to our reporter that knowing how a conventional armed movement operates, they avoided the main road as to avoid possible ONLF ambushes. However he said, they encountered well-entrenched ONLF units in the straits that they thought ONLF would not be positioning itself.

This source said that these units were able to annihilate many of the TPLF and the local Somali militia. He added that ONLF succeeded in capturing at least two thirds of the TPLF and the local militia personnel.

Furthermore this eyewitness reported that the units that caused the most damage were reported to be way less than those ONLF units that he said we later found out were the most armed and with the most weaponry and numbers. It is confirmed by locals that victorious ONLF units dug more trenches in preparation for any counter attack from TPLF and its associated local militia.

Fiiq city dwellers confirmed so far that up to four Somali men who were members of the conscripted civil servants have been among the many injured. Up to the time of filing this report though our reporters in the area have not been able to get an accurate number of the dead and injured on this fierce battle.

Having realized the magnitude of the military loss, the heads of the TPLF militias immediately ordered the conscripted civil servants together with a reinforced TPLF militia to wage a counter attack to the ONLF units positioned in Cagajiid. However, many of the local militia members mutinied and refused to be part of any attack or counter attack plans against ONLF units in Cagajiid.

Our reporters in the city indicate that the city and its environs have lately witnessed some of the fiercest battles between ONLF and TPLF and its local conscripts. It is reported that given its strategic value, ONLF positioned many more well trained and well-equipped military personnel in this area. This they say resulted in the last three months alone the loss of more than 330 TPLF militia personnel and many unaccounted for local conscripts.

Source: Ogaden Online News