Chirstos Kkelis was born in 1934 in Kissonerga and attended the village’s Primary School. He was one of the first members of the liberating organization EOKA and within a short time he managed to become a trusty member of the chief of the organization and was placed as Sector-head in the area.
He took part in many ambushes and operations against the British. Actually, the first British soldier killed in Cyprus fell during an ambush that Kkelis had set at the location “Arkokalami” which is near Kissonerga.
His most daring operation was the placement of time bombs at the military restaurant of the British military camp in the area of CoralBay, which was then called “Maa”. The explosion occurred in the space where the British officers were attending a reception and left many of them dead.
Afterwards, when the British found out about his actions and started pursuing him, he became a guerilla and went to the mountains. The British soldiers managed to track him down and kill him and his fellow fighter Miltiades Stylianou from Tala, with the help of traitors, on the 7th of March 1957 at the location “Ppiris”. The two fighters were killed after a brutal battle against the British troops.
“Machi” Newspaper wrote at the time: “A group of traitors taking advantage of the death of the hero Gregoris Afxentiou and claiming that they belonged to the group of Gregoris Afxentiou, asked Kkelis to let them join him. They managed to trick him into allowing them to join him and they drove him into a cordon of British soldiers, where he was killed with his friend and fellow fighter Miltiades Stylianou after a brutal battle. They were killed inside a water motor building which they had turned into a fortress in order to fight back”.
Sources:
KleanthisI. Vakis, Kissonerga Through the Centuries, Lefkosia 2003
Kissonerga Community Council |
