AT least one soldier has died in an attack by gunmen on a military checkpoint around Zuma Rock in Niger State, near the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), along the Abuja-Kaduna road, on Thursday.
This was disclosed to The ICIR by a security personnel in the state who pleaded anonymity for lack of authorisation to confirm the incident.
The gunmen, suspected to be terrorists, launched an attack on the area before they were repelled by soldiers.
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The attack occurred between 8:30 pm and 9:00 pm, and resulted in a traffic gridlock along the area.
“It was an attack on a military checkpoint around the Zuma Rock by suspected armed men. It was around 8:30 – 9:00 pm. It led to a lot of gridlock on the road, but according to information, they were repelled, but one soldier paid the price, he lost his life,” the source said.
Clearance operations were carried out by men of the Nigerian Army following the attack and a police patrol team was also present at the scene.
The ICIR contacted Spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Clement Onyema Nwachukwu and the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Niger State Police Command Wasiu Abiodun for more details on the attack.
They did not respond to text messages as of the time of filing this report.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.
Why didn’t you contextualise the news? Who killed the soldier? Does it mean govt can’t secure the country? What should people do in the situation?