During the Ethiopian Civil War, with help from the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) captured Asosa from the Derg in early January 1990, and held the city for a brief time. During the occupation, In response the government airforce subjected Assosa to aerial attacks several times that month, killing 19 people and wounding 20. Before the OLF withdrew from Assosa, it destroyed the town's only electricity generator, stole 1.8 million Birr from the bank, most of which were deposits from the local farmer cooperatives, and took any valuable items its troops could carry.