Rampant soldiers kill civilians
2001-10-24 20:01
Lagos - More than 100 people have been shot dead by rampaging soldiers in central Nigeria in the latest bout of unrest in this crisis-torn
west African country, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The reprisal attacks late on Monday and Tuesday came after 19
soldiers were killed by ethnic militiamen two weeks ago near the
border of the south central states of Benue and Taraba. The
soldiers' mutilated corpses were found the next day.
The soldiers were buried on Monday in the country's capital
Abuja with an order by President Olusegun Obasanjo that their
killers should be found and brought to book.
A lorry-load of soldiers on Monday began two days of retaliatory
attacks on Anyiin, Gbeji, Iorja and Vaase - border towns of Benue
and Taraba State - and shot dead more than 100 residents, the
spokesperson told AFP.
"Over 100 people have been killed since Monday evening," the
official in the Benue State press office said.
He said the soldiers stormed the four villages in reprisal
attacks over the killing of the soldiers sent on a peacekeeping
mission at the border between two warring communities.
Obasanjo has not yet reacted to the massacres carried out by the
military, but Nigerian defence headquarters denied ordering the
soldiers to launch the reprisal attacks.
"Nobody deployed soldiers to fight in Benue, nobody gave them
the orders," defence spokesperson in Abuja, Ganiyu Adewale, told AFP.
He claimed total ignorance of the attack, which began on Monday and continued till Tuesday.
Residents fleeing the affected four villages said that the
attackers were indeed soldiers, according to Francis Ikwur, a
resident in Makurdi, capital of Benue State.
Benue police spokesperson Emmanuel Deebom confirmed the shooting, but declined to say if people were killed. He said his men were investigating the incident.
"We have sent our men to the area to investigate the shooting. I
cannot therefore confirm any casualty at the moment," he said.
Two years ago, more than 300 people were killed in Odi, a town
in southern Bayelsa State, following the murder of about a dozen
policemen in the town.
The town was completely destroyed by the soldiers and Obasanjo
has so far failed to apologise over the incident which happened a
few months after he was sworn into office.
His army chief then - lieutenant general Victor Malu - warned
against sending soldiers to do police duties.
"Soldiers are trained to kill. Next time do not invite soldiers
for such an assignment," he told journalists.
The government spokesperson said on Wednesday that the house in Benue of the now-retired general Malu was among those razed by the soldiers and that some members of his family were seriously injured.
Over the years, Nigeria has faced waves of religious and ethnic
unrest which have claimed thousands of lives.
With a population of more than 121.8 million, the crowded
country is one of the most ethnically diverse on earth with more
than 250 indigenous ethnic groups, and also splits north and south
along religious lines.
In the last two years, a dozen northern states have introduced
strict Islamic law to the chagrin of the Nigerian government and
Christians, who have continued to oppose the adoption.
More than 100 people were killed last week in the northern city
of Kano in Muslim riots against US attacks on Afghanistan, while
more than 500 died in Jos in September.
In June, scores were killed and tens of thousands were uprooted
in Taraba and its neighboring state of Nasarawa in ethnic clashes.
Worried by the spate of deadly violence in the country, Obasanjo
last week set up a panel on national security.
- Sapa-AFP
- SAPA