Categories: Crime

Nigerian Army Breaks Silence On Killing 70 Persons In Benue, States What Happened

The Nigerian Army has disputed reports that its troops massacred residents of Shangev-Tiev in Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ), in a statement through the Director, Defense Information, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, said following the killing of an officer and ten soldiers in the Local Government by bandits, troops moved into the area to fish out their killers and bring them to book but were engaged by the same bandits.

In the resulting gunfight, ten of the bandits were killed and a service rifle belonging to one of the deceased soldiers was recovered from them.

Nwachukwu emphasized that besides the ten bandits, no other person was killed in the operation.

He challenged anyone with proof of the massacre of the 200, 70 or 30 persons reported in the media to come forward.

While decrying the deaths of the Military personnel killed, he said they were burnt beyond recognition, adding that the Nigerian Army would not tolerate a situation where soldiers on legitimate duties to keep the peace of the country are brutally murdered in a jungle justice manner.

Nwachukwu disclosed that the deceased were on their way to replenish their colleagues maintaining peace in the area following a protracted boundary dispute between communities in Konshisha and Oju Local Government Areas, before they were waylaid at Bonta in Konshisha and taken by the so called “Bonta Boys”.

He said they were taken into the Konshisha forest where they were brutally murdered and their bodies set ablaze. There weapons were also carted away.

A reinforcement team came under fire from the same boys and after about four hour exchange of fire, they retreated into abandoned villages.

The Military employed helicopter gunships in pursuit of them, leading to the destruction of some houses in which they took cover, he explained.

He explained further that the use of abandoned settlements for cover was a guerilla tactic aimed at drawing military fire into the dwellings so as to turn round and blame soldiers for the destruction.

Nwachukwu said the bandits were therefore responsible for the destruction in the communities, EKO HOT BLOG gathered.

While calling on local leaders in Konshisha to fish out the main actors responsible for the mayhem and hand them over to security forces to face justice, the Army promised to work with the Benue State Government to ensure peace return to the area.

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