The Battle of Tiro took place in August 1974 that was fought between the Oromo Liberation Army, then led by Elemo Qiltu, and Ethiopian government forces.

[1] The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) was then a small and nascent guerilla force that started out with twenty men (later grew exponentially) and operated in the mountains around the city of Gelemso.

After the OLA killed Mulatu Tegegn, a notorious local landowner, the government sent General Getachew Shibeshi and a large force to deal with the guerilla army.

Three of their new recruits; Hundee Taqi, Sheikh Jamal and Colonel Mahdi were unaccustomed to climbing long distances so they spent the night around the bottom of the mountains while the rest of the soldiers camped at the top.

[2] The Ethiopian government punished the population in the area by instigating a wave of mass arrests and killings in the surrounding towns of Gelemso, Boke, Badhesa, Mechere and Balbaleti.