Two soldiers serving with Operation Pulo Shield, the Joint Military Force stationed in the Niger Delta, have been killed in a gun battle with kidnappers in Nembe, Bayelsa State.

The death of the soldiers was confirmed on Wednesday morning by the spokesman of the military task force, Isa Ado, a Colonel, who also said that one of the kidnappers was killed and some arrests made by soldiers who pursued the criminals.

Ado stated that the incident occurred on Tuesday morning at Ogbolomabiri-Nembe junction, just about two kilometres to Nembe, when the troops were on escort duty.

He said while the kidnappers engaged the soldiers in a gun battle, they also succeeded in abducting an expatriate with the construction giant, Setraco, with whom they escaped through the waterways. The expatriate is suspected to be a Lebanese although that could not be confirmed as at press time.

Ado said further that men of the task force have intensified patrols in the waterways which are yielding results, although he said he could not go into details.

“We found three victims in their boat made some arrests and some of them escaped but we are on their trail and we shall issue a statement as soon as we get all the details together,” Ado said.