Military/Bandit's Clash: Death toll of troops hits 12

With the military au­thorities confirm­ing the recovering of the body of a soldier earli­er declared missing, the num­ber of men and officers killed by bandits in Niger State has risen to 12.

A senior officer of the Ni­gerian Army, eight soldiers and two personnel of the Nigerian Air Force were killed on Thurs­day when the troops stormed Kpaidna community in Bosso Local Government Area of Ni­ger State to arrest suspected gun runners. One of the sol­diers was declared missing af­ter the raid.

In an interview with The AUTHORITY on Sunday, Army Spokesman, Col. Sani Usman, disclosed that the body of the missing soldier had been recovered.

Col. Usman said that nor­malcy had returned to the area, adding that the General Offic­er Commanding (GOC) 1 Di­vision of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Maj-Gen. Adeniyi Oyebade, had relocated to Min­na, the Niger State capital.

Maj-Gen OYebade, who justified the military operation, told journalists in Minna that it saved millions of Nigerians who have been victims of weapons recovered from the bandits.

He said: ``If the weapons recovered in the community had found their way outside the state, a lot of lives would have been lost. The operation came about because of intelligence report about gunrunners, who have been bringing and selling crude and sophisticated weap­ons to robbery gangs, who have been terrorising people.

``Our actions saved the lives of thousands in Niger State and millions in Nigeria. Imag­ine if those weapons we recov­ered had been allowed to spread across the state and the country, many people would have been maimed.’’

He said that although the lives of some soldiers were lost during the operation, the Army would not be deterred and dis­tracted in its resolve to rid the state and the country of crimi­nal elements.

``In the course of the en­gagement, we lost one officer and 11 soldiers.

``Seven bandits were killed, 57 suspects arrested and two police personnel were killed in Minna on Saturday in connec­tion with the incident.

``Several weapons - crude and sophisticated weapons - were recovered. Imagine the number of lives that would have been lost if those weapons had found their way to other com­munities,’’ he said.

The slain troops were drawn from 31 Artillery Brigade, 1 Di­vision of the Nigerian Army in conjunction with a detachment of Nigerian Air Force on inter­nal security codenamed Oper­ation MESA.

They had killed eight of suspected bandits terrorizing residents in Niger State.

Col Usman had in a state­ment on Saturday said that one officer, eight soldiers and two Air Force personnel lost their lives in the battle in the gener­al areas of Koppa, Dagma/Ga­gaw in Bosso Local Govern­ment Area.

He said the bandits burnt down four operational vehi­cles and carted away five ser­vice rifles belonging to the de­ceased soldiers.

Usman listed the items re­covered from the criminals as including various calibres of arms and ammunition, Dane guns, cutlasses, charms, mo­bile telephones, machetes, mo­torcycles, motor vehicles, torch­lights as well as cash sum of N23, 870.00 among others.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Senator David Umar, has appealed to the military to release the 60 villagers arrest­ed during the clash between the villagers and the military in Kpaidna and the surround­ing villages.

Umar who described the people of Kpaidna as a very peaceful in Niger East Senato­rial District said even though the military has not given any cogent reason for the arrest of the villagers, he stressed that the operation in the village was unacceptable in a demo­cratic government.

According to him, “ for the avoidance of doubt, I would like to inform the public that this community was only about a month ago attacked by alleged Fulani herders during which many innocent people were killed and over 500 others dis­placed and many of the victims of the attack are still living in displaced persons’ camps in Minna the Niger State capital.

“I am reliably informed that when the sleeping villagers were woken by the brutal force of an invasion in the thick of the night, the first thing that came to their mind was that it was an­other attack by the same Fulani herders on rampage which re­sulted in general pandemonium and commotion,” he said.

Senator Umar maintained that It is the duty of the mili­tary to provide adequate pro­tection to the helpless villagers who on several occasion have become victims of attack and made to receive pains inflicted on them in an unnecessary op­eration.