Gunmen kill soldier, village head in Kaduna

Posted by admin Headlines, Kaduna, State News Monday, May 14th, 2012

A group, under the umbrella of Northern Emancipation Network and Arewa Youth
Parliament, has assured the people that it will work harder to ensure that peace
reigns in the North.

Addressing a press conference yesterday, the
Coordinator of the group, Suleiman Abdulaziz, said his group was making efforts
to ensure that all concerned interest groups in the North work hand in hand to
achieve the objective.

Abdulaziz, however, expressed worry over some
groups that were out to tarnish the image and reputation of the 19 northern
governors, particularly the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, Muazu Babangida
Aliyu, stressing that the northern youths should support the governors in their
drive to ensure peace in the zone.

This is even as soldiers at the
weekend engaged unidentified gunmen believed to be terrorists in a gun battle in
Rigasa area of Kaduna metropolis, leading to the death of a soldier and one of
the suspected terrorists. The soldiers on night patrol were said to have run
into the hideout of the suspected terrorists at about 8.30 pm on Saturday t and
opened fire on them.

The Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, 1
Mechanised Division, Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Colonel Sani Usman, confirmed the
incident, saying that his men battled the alleged terrorists for almost two
hours. The suspected terrorists, Daily Sun gathered were said to have killed the
village Head of Sabon Gari, Rigasa, Alhaji Muhommed Jibrin on Friday night for
allegedly exposing them to security men. As at the time of filing this report,
many residents in Rigasa had been on self-imposed curfew for fear of possible
attacks. Daily Sun further gathered that scores of the suspected terrorists were
wounded by the soldiers and were receiving medical attention at undisclosed
Hospital in Kaduna.

The Nigerian Army warned the people in Rigasa area
about a month ago that if the killings of security men continued, the community
would be over-run by the Army. Addressing stakeholders at a peace meeting about
a month ago, the Sector Commander, Rigasa Rapid Strike Force, LT. Colonel Ismail
Dapo Oloyede , said the Army was disappointed by perennial killings in the area
after he had rated the place before his boss as a peaceful place for people to
cohabit.
Oloyede recalled how Rigasa people promised him in a similar meeting
last year to make the place a peaceful settlement, regretting that the reverse
was the case this year, and urged the people to expose the criminals among them
or face equal treatment with the criminals.

-Sunwp_posts