Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: How a soldier survived an 11-hour gun battle

I was at a camp near Adigrat city, near the border with Eritrea. At around 23.30 on 3 November, I, and other soldiers, received text messages from our comrades at the base in Agula town – about 30km (18 miles) north-east of the Tigray capital, Mekelle – saying: “We are surrounded. If you can come and rescue us, come.”