The Nigerian army says police
officers killed by its men were mistakenly taken to be kidnappers.
On Wednesday, the police had
accused the army of killing three of its personnel while freeing a kidnap
suspect when soldiers opened fire on the police officers along Ibi-Jalingo road
in Taraba state.
But reacting in a statement,
Sagir Musa, army spokesperson, said the refusal of the policemen, whom they
thought were kidnappers, to stop at the checkpoints prompted the action of the
soldiers.
“The attention of the army
headquarters has been drawn to the press release by DCP Frank Mba, force public
relations officer, force headquarters, Abuja Ref No.
CZ.5300/FPRD/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.2/68 Date: August 7, 2019 on the unfortunate incident
that occurred on the 6th of August 2019 in which troops of 93 Battalion
Nigerian Army Takum pursued and exchanged fire with some suspected kidnappers
who indeed turned out to be an Intelligence Response Team from the Police Force
Headquarters Abuja on a covert assignment from Abuja resulting in the death and
injury of some members of the Team,” the statement read.
“On the 6th of August 2019, the
said Nigerian Army troops, while responding to a distressed call to rescue a
kidnapped victim exchanged fire with the suspected kidnappers along Ibi-Wukari
Road in Taraba State.
“The suspected kidnappers
numbering about ten (10) and driving in a white bus with Reg No LAGOS MUS 564
EU refused to stop when they were halted by troops at three consecutive check
points. The flagrant refusal of the suspected kidnappers to stop at the three
checkpoints prompted a hot pursuit of the fleeing suspects by the troops. It
was in this process that the suspected kidnappers who were obviously armed
opened fire at the troops sporadically thus prompting them to return fire.
“In the resultant fire fight,
four (4) suspects were shot and died on the spot while four (4) others
sustained various degrees of gunshot wounds and 2 others reportedly missing. It
was only after this avoidable outcome that one of the wounded suspects
disclosed the fact that they were indeed Policemen dispatched from Nigerian
Police, Force Headquarters, Abuja for a covert assignment.”
He said the commander of the
troops asked at the police station in the area whether they were aware of any
police team being dispatched to operate, but the divisional police officer
responded that he was not informed about any operation.
According to him “this lent
credence to the distressed call from members of the community that the
policemen, on a covert mission, were rather suspected kidnappers.”
The army spokesperson said the
incident is unfortunate and could have been avoided through proper coordination
and liaison as the police are partners in the fight against crimes such as
kidnapping amongst myriads of other internal security threats confronting the
country.
“In order to avert future
occurrences of this nature, the Army Headquarters and the Force Headquarters of
the Nigerian Police have agreed to constitute a Joint lnvestigation Panel to be
headed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Criminal
Investigation Department, DIG Mike Ogbizi, to jointly investigate and report on
the true circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incident. Therefore, until
the Joint Investigation Panel concludes and submits its report, it will be premature
to officially conclude and speak on the real circumstances that caused this
unfortunate but very avoidable unfortunate incident,” the statement added.
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