TheNewsGuru

Tag: Civilians

  • Banditry: NAF dares Zamfara monarchs to show pictures, corpses of dead civilians

    Banditry: NAF dares Zamfara monarchs to show pictures, corpses of dead civilians

    The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has reacted to allegations that its stings against rampaging bandits in Zamfara were on innocent civilians, challenging anyone with evidence that civilians were targeted during its recent strikes to produce evidence.

    Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, made the request in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

    Daramola said the NAF finds it mischievous that anyone would spread such deliberate misinformation whilst the Service is doing its best to effectively respond to the challenges facing the good people of Zamfara and its environs.

    He was reacting to some reports insinuating that the recent air strikes conducted by its Air Task Force for Operation DIRAN MIKIYA killed only innocent civilians in the areas attacked and not bandits.

    “The attention of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has been drawn to some media reports insinuating that the recent air strikes conducted by its Air Task Force for Operation DIRAN MIKIYA killed only innocent civilians in the areas attacked and not bandits,” the statement read.

    “The NAF finds such reports rather ridiculous because most of the locations attacked are within the Rugu, Sububu and Kagara Forests general area, which are known bandits hideouts that have been attacked in the past, without any outcry.

    “Besides, the NAF target selection process for air operations is particularly rigorous and methodical in order to ensure proper target identification and thereby prevent strikes on wrong locations.”

    According to him, the locations attacked from April 8 to 11 are selected based on human intelligence (HUMINT) reports obtained from security agencies and other government sources, traditional and community leaders as well as reliable, vetted informants.

    “In addition, NAF also has Special Forces (SF) personnel operating in some of the areas attacked, who provided additional intelligence.

    “These were all further confirmed by days of detailed day and night Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions to ensure proper targeting for avoidance of collateral damage,” he said.

    The spokesman said to further ensure this, as standard practice, NAF attack aircraft on air interdiction missions were accompanied by ISR platforms that guided them to designated targets.

    According to him, NAF pilots, by training and in line with extant Rules of Engagement (ROEs) for the operation, do not attack any location if it is observed that non-combatants, especially women and children, are present.

    “In such cases, the pilots would rather return to Base with their munitions unexpended. Consequently, it is inconceivable that the NAF would attack locations where innocent civilians reside.

    “In view of the foregoing, the NAF finds it rather mischievous that anyone would spread such deliberate misinformation whilst the Service is doing its best to effectively respond to the challenges facing the good people of Zamfara and its environs.

    “Rather than making such spurious and unsubstantiated allegations, NAF requests that anyone with evidence to the effect that innocent civilians were targeted by the NAF air strikes should produce such evidence,” he said.

  • How JTF rescued two soldiers, 4 civilians in Rivers kidnappers den

    Troops of the Joint Military Task Force in the Niger Delta, codenamed Operation Delta Safe, say they have rescued two abducted soldiers and four civilians from a kidnappers’ den.

    The OPDS, with headquarters in Igbogene, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, also said the troops found human skulls and bones during the raid on the kidnappers’ camp in Rivers State.

    The Coordinator, Joint Media Campaign Centre, OPDS, Major Ibrahim Abdullahi, said in a statement on Thursday that the operation followed a report of the kidnap of two soldiers who were in transit for banking services in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers.

    He said after the report, the OPDS immediately swung into action by mobilising troops for the rescue operation.

    The outfit’s spokesman said when the suspected militants sighted the troops approaching their den, they engaged the troops in a gun battle.

    He, however, said during the gun duel, the troops overpowered the kidnappers with superior firepower, leading to casualties on the side of the militants, while others escaped with gunshot injuries into the forest.

    Abdullahi said, “On September 18, 2017, at about 7.30am, OPDS headquarters received a report of the kidnap of two soldiers while in transit for banking services in ONELGA, Rivers State.

    “Troops were immediately mobilised into action. They discovered a militant camp with several shrines in a forest at Obiozimini community in Rivers State.

    “On approaching the forest, the suspected kidnappers opened fire on the troops, who subsequently engaged them with superior firepower, leading to casualties on the side of the suspected kidnappers, while others escaped with varying degrees of gunshot injuries into an adjoining forest.

    “The operation successfully rescued the two abducted personnel. Further search of the campsite led to the rescue of four more civilians who were earlier kidnapped, including a lady.’’

    He said items found in the camp and shrines were three pump action guns, eight empty cartridges, human skulls and some bones.

    Abdullahi said the camp and shrines were subsequently destroyed, while the rescued victims were taken to one of the military’s medical facilities in the area.

    He said troops were trailing suspected perpetrators of the crime, who fled into the forest.

    He urged members of the public to provide any useful information to identify the criminals and their whereabouts in order to face justice.

  • UN condemns deadly attacks on civilians in Borno

    The Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Edward Kallon, on Tuesday condemned the deadly attacks targeting innocent civilians in Konduga, Banki and Ngala areas of Borno.

    Kallon expressed this view in a statement by Biodun Banire, Public Information Officer, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Tuesday in Abuja

    He said that four attacks in recent weeks, three of which were carried out by suicide bombers, had claimed the lives of over 45 civilians and injured countless others.

    Kallon said that the incidents were indicative of a surge in the brutal violence triggered by a regionalised conflict that is now in its eighth year.

    “Civilians are routinely killed in direct and indiscriminate attacks in the north-east of Nigeria.

    “This conflict, with all its brutality and horrors, is reaching new lows, with more than 80 children used as human bombs in 2017 alone.

    “I call upon all parties to the conflict to respect human life and dignity.

    “The latest attack occurred on September 18 in Konduga area, about 28 kilometers southeast of Maiduguri.

    “Three suicide bombers consecutively detonated explosive devices strapped to their bodies in Mashemari village, killing 13 and injuring many more,” he said.

    According to him, previous attacks in Banki and Ngala targeted camps for internally displaced persons and Nigerian refugees returning home.

    He said that these camps hosted thousands of vulnerable women, men and children, who had been forced to flee their homes and now rely on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs.

    “The previous Konduga attack in August targeted a market in the town.

    “The frequency of the attacks is on the rise and ‘softer’ targets, such as camps for displaced persons, are being identified by insurgents.

    “This is an extremely worrying trend, while the Government of Nigeria has made significant progress in many locations in the north-east, allowing thousands of people to return home, there is more to be done.

    “I urge the Government of Nigeria to increase efforts to protect civilians,” he said

    He said that the protection of civilians was the focus of the ongoing humanitarian response in the north-east.

    Kallon noted with concern that 8.5 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance in the most affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa state’s.

    “Women, children and men face grave human rights violations and sexual and gender-based violence, including rape.

    “Since the start of the conflict in 2009, thousands of people have been killed, thousands of women and girls have been abducted and children have been used as so-called “suicide” bombers,” he said.

     

  • Boko Haram: 48 corpses of slain soldiers, civilians arrive Maiduguri

    Forty-eight corpses of persons killed by Boko Haram insurgents during an oil exploration to the Lake Chad Basin have been brought to the Maiduguri Teaching Hospital in the Borno State capital.

    Sources at the UMTH and the Maimalari Army Barrack told newsmen that the corpses were brought into Maiduguri from the scene of the attack.

    The corpses brought include 18 soldiers, 15 Civilian JTF, five university staff and four NNPC drivers.

    Also six persons who were wounded in the attack but escaped to somewhere in Yobe State were later found dead and brought to Maiduguri.

    Apart from the wounded soldiers admitted to military hospital in the town, two members of the Civilian JTF were as at Thursday on admission at the UMTH.

    The Army, in a press statement on Wednesday by it’s spokesman, Brig. Gen. Sani Usman, had claimed that all the NNPC staff abducted in the Tuesday’s ambush had been rescued.

    Usman, in the statement, said: “On receipt of the information, the Brigade mobilized and sent reinforcement, search and rescue party that include the Armed Forces Special Forces and guides that worked and pursued the terrorists throughout the night.

    “So far, they have rescued all the NNPC staff and recovered the corpses of the Officer, 8 soldiers and a civilian who have been evacuated to 7 Division Medical Services and Hospital.

    “The team recovered 4 vehicles one of which include a gun truck mounted with an Anti-Aircraft Gun, 2 white Hilux taken away from NNPC staff and 1 blue Hilux belonging to CJTF. The team also recovered large quantities of arms and ammunition, several spare tyres, many jerry cans of containing Petroleum, Oil and Lubricant, assorted drugs, Improvised Explosive Device (IED) making materials, reflective jackets and a Motorola handheld radio, among others. The team also neutralized many of the terrorists.”

    However, investigations revealed that five lecturers from the University of Maiduguri in the exploration team were killed.

    Names of three of the lost were given as Dr. Joseph Millitus, Dr. Manaja Uba and Idris Njodi.

    A family of one of the deceased (Dr. Joseph Millitus), Daniel Millitus said the family was still in grief over the lost of one of the rising stars of the family.

    Daniel Millitus, who is a pastor in one of the parishes of Redeemed Christian Church of God in Maiduguri, said the family is making arrangements for the burial of their son.

    Another relative of a slain lecturer (Dr. Manaja Uba), said the family was still in shock and found it difficult to believe that “Manaja was no more.”

    She lamented that another relative (Yusuf Ibrahim) also in the exploration team is still missing.

    When contacted on phone by journalists, the spokesman of the University of Maiduguri, Professor Danjuma Gambo, said, he was in Abuja and, therefore, has limited access to information on happenings at the institution.

    He, however, promised to get more information on the claims as soon as he gets back on campus from Abuja.

    The Deputy Director Army Public Relations, Col. Kingsley Samuel, when contacted on the matter, said it was not within the purview of the 7 Division where he is the spokesman.

    He asked that: “You have to get in contact with Abuja on this, as I have no available information. It is under the 8 division.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, ‎Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, on Thursday said he cannot confirm if any of the oil workers kidnapped by Boko Haram has been rescued.

    Kachikwu made the claim while addressing journalists at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, headquarters in Abuja.