On Wednesday evening the police reported the shocking news of how it's men, an inspector and two sergeants were killed by soldiers of the Nigerian army as the police officers were taking a high profile kidnap suspect from a remote community in Taraba state to Jalingo the state capital.
Describing the attack as 'bizarre', the police also said that many officers were injured and the suspect freed.
However, the Nigerian army blamed communication gap for the attack, and stated that it's men attached to 93 Battalion, Tankum pursued a white bus conveying 10 persons they thought were kidnappers, not knowing that the bus was occupied by police officers from Intelligent Response Team (IRT). On a covert operation to arrest a kidnap suspect who is identified as Alhaji Hamisu.
The Army spokesperson Col. Sagir Musa also stated that the troops were responding to a distress call from villagers that Mr Hamisu was kidnapped, blaming the police for not properly coordinating the raid and causing confusion.
"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,” Army spokesperson Sagir Musa said in a statement to PREMIUM TIMES.
“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. “However, following inquiries from a Police Station officer who was asked by the commander of the Army troops whether he was aware of any Nigerian Police team being dispatched to operate in the LGA, the Divisional Police Officer of Ibi Police Division responded that he was not informed about any operation by the Nigerian Police Force Headquarters thus lending credence to the distressed call from members of the community that the suspects who turned out to be Policemen on a covert mission were rather suspected kidnappers.
“This incident is indeed quite unfortunate and could have been avoided through proper coordination and liaison as the Nigerian Police Force are partners in the fight against crimes such as kidnapping amongst myriads of other internal security threats confronting our nation of which the Nigerian Police is the lead agency,” Mr Musa, a colonel, said. The Army Headquarters and the Force Headquarters have agreed to conduct a joint investigation into the deadly incident, Mr Musa said. Michael Ogbizi, the deputy inspector-general of police in charge of criminal investigations, will lead the joint panel. “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,” Mr Musa said.
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