Some of the 11 soldiers and captain killed by bandits in Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State on Monday may still be alive had they not been tricked into committing one major mistake, a military source who spoke with an eyewitness has told FIJ.
As earlier reported by FIJ after studying a classified military document, the soldiers were taken out by the bandits in batches of five and seven, with their bodies set ablaze and dumped in a forest near Gbinde Village.
Speaking with FIJ on Friday, the military source said: “An eyewitness told me that when the bandits surrounded the soldiers and officer, the soldiers told the bandits that they were there for peace.
“Then the bandits asked them to drop their rifles if they really came for peace. The mistake the officer and his men made was to trust them and leave their rifle without disarming them. The bandits collected their rifles, killed all the soldiers and burnt their bodiees.”
The 11 soldiers killed with the captain are one warrant officer, two sergeants, three corporals, one lance corporal and four privates. FIJ is holding on to their names because it could not establish that their families had been officially notified of their deaths as of press time.
The incident report, signed by Major P. A. Onifade revealed that the captain and his men were ambushed by a group of armed bandits from Konshisha.
The bandits were well-armed and encircled the officer and the troops with him,” it said. “After a long wait for the troops without any sign of their arrival, troops from Oju went out with a patrol of soldiers led by a warrant officer. The reinforcement troops came to Konshisha and also failed to return.”
Calls made to their mobile phones went unanswered, prompting the dispatch of a “robust search and rescue joint operation of own troops and OPWS”.
The bodies of the 11 were eventually found burnt and dumped in a forest near a village called Gbinde, in Konshiha LGA. The two Hilux vans conveying the troops were also found burnt.
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One reply on “EXCLUSIVE: The One Mistake That Helped Bandits Kill Captain, 11 Soldiers”
Soldiers are not meant to have just a primary weapon, a sidearm pistol well concealed is ideal in situations like this.
RIP to the fallen heroes.