EIGHT soldiers were killed when gunmen attacked a unit of the Nigerian Army Presidential Guards Brigade on patrol at the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The casualties in the attack, which occurred during the weekend, include a captain and lieutenant. Three soldiers were wounded in the attack.
Lieutenant Ibrahim Suleiman and Captain Samuel Attah, both indigenes of Kogi State, were identified as the officers killed in the ambush.
It was gathered that the injured soldiers are currently receiving medical attention.
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The management of the Nigerian Law School had alerted that terrorists had dropped a letter indicating an imminent attack.
Troops attached to the Presidential Guards Brigade were drafted to the law school in Bwari to conduct an on-the-spot assessment following the distress call.
However, the gunmen ambushed the soldiers.
Suleiman was the son of Colonel Suleiman Ahmodu Babanawa, a retired military veteran in the Nigerian Army.
He hails from Okpo in Olamaboro Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Attah was from Ibaji Local Government Area of Kogi State.
The ICIR contacted Godfrey Onyeama, Nigeria Army spokesperson, to confirm if the attackers’ identities were known and what efforts the military was making to curtail future attacks.
He did not respond to text messages and phone calls.
This is the second attack on the Presidential Guards Brigade in one month.
Earlier, on July 6, gunmen attacked Buhari’s advance convoy, which included troops of the Presidential Guards Brigade, in Katsina State.
Two officers in the convoy were shot.
The Presidency in a statement after the incident said gallant Presidential Guards repelled an attack on the advance team ahead of Buhari’s visit to Daura, his hometown in Katsina State, for the Eid-el Kabir festival.
Amos Abba is a journalist with the International Center for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, who believes that courageous investigative reporting is the key to social justice and accountability in the society.