Five dead, two injured as Army, villagers clash in Niger
Fri Aug 05, 2016 10:44:am Gist
2.6K By sosa hills
A clash between some military personnel and villagers in Niger State on Thursday morning has left five persons feared dead while two others were injured.
The two injured were said to be soldiers while the identities of the deceased were yet to be known and four of the vehicles belonging to the army were either burnt or destroyed.
The incident occurred in Kpaidna village in Bosso Local Government Area at about 1.30am of Thursday.
It was gathered that the combined team of soldiers and Nigeria Air Force personnel drove to the village on official operation when the clash occurred.
The military team, according to a source, were in the village in search of arms and ammunition which intelligence claimed were hid in some houses in the community.
The source said the villagers mistook the soldiers for armed Fulani herdsmen and, therefore, attacked them leading to the death of the five people and while two others were injured.
The Police Public Relations Officer in state police command, DSP Bala Elikana, when contacted confirmed the story saying,"The command immediately mobilized mobile Policemen and other combatants to the village and Police discovered it was soldiers in operation. "But calm has been restored in the area."
Also contacted was the Assistant Director of Army Public Relations, Major Njideka Agwu, said: "We heard there are arms and ammunitions in that village and we went for cordon and search after soldiers were briefed yesterday.
"Unfortunately, villagers opened fire on us and we don't know the number of casualty for now because the information is sketchy.
"But our men are still at the location and investigation is still going on."
The two injured were said to be soldiers while the identities of the deceased were yet to be known and four of the vehicles belonging to the army were either burnt or destroyed.
The incident occurred in Kpaidna village in Bosso Local Government Area at about 1.30am of Thursday.
It was gathered that the combined team of soldiers and Nigeria Air Force personnel drove to the village on official operation when the clash occurred.
The military team, according to a source, were in the village in search of arms and ammunition which intelligence claimed were hid in some houses in the community.
The source said the villagers mistook the soldiers for armed Fulani herdsmen and, therefore, attacked them leading to the death of the five people and while two others were injured.
The Police Public Relations Officer in state police command, DSP Bala Elikana, when contacted confirmed the story saying,"The command immediately mobilized mobile Policemen and other combatants to the village and Police discovered it was soldiers in operation. "But calm has been restored in the area."
Also contacted was the Assistant Director of Army Public Relations, Major Njideka Agwu, said: "We heard there are arms and ammunitions in that village and we went for cordon and search after soldiers were briefed yesterday.
"Unfortunately, villagers opened fire on us and we don't know the number of casualty for now because the information is sketchy.
"But our men are still at the location and investigation is still going on."
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