Troops of the 25 Task Force Brigade have gunned down a soldier who opened fire and killed a female Aid worker, a fellow soldier and injured a Untied Nations (UN) Staff.
It was gathered that the soldier, attached to the Special Forces, had walked off his base in a remote town of Damboa in Borno State, at about 3:00pm on Thursday, and went on a shooting rampage using an AK47 riffle.
A source at the UN office said the situation had forced some iNGOs officials waiting to board a UN helicopter, to run back to Maiduguri for their safety.
Sources said after he exhausted his bullet, the soldier brought out a jack knife and stabbed a female staff of Medecins du Monde (France) on Nigeria Mission, multiple times while injuring the pilot of the helicopter.
The rampaging soldier, again, turned and chased his fellow colleagues before he was gunned down to prevent further disaster.
Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency expert in the Lake Chad confirmed that the injured pilot and the crew were safely back to Maiduguri while efforts were ongoing to stabilise the wounded Pilot at a hospital in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.
Confirming the incident, the Theatre Command, Operation HADIN KAI, said it regretted to inform the public of a sad occurrence at one of the military bases.
A statement released by Major Samson Nantip Zhakom, Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, headquarters Theatre Command, said a soldier shot and killed a staff of one of the NGOs providing humanitarian support in the North-East.
“Same soldier also killed another soldier and injured the co-pilot of one of the UN helicopters. Own troops on the ground immediately neutralised the errant personnel.
“The injured co-pilot has been stabilised while the corpses of the deceased have been moved to the 7 Division Hospital.
“Detailed investigation into the incident and subsequent remedial actions have commenced into the highly regrettable incident,” said Zhakom.
Meanwhile, the United Nations in a statement issued by the Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Mathias Schmale, to journalists on Friday in Maiduguri, described the killings as sad and disturbing.
The statement reads, “Yesterday’s killing of a staff member of the humanitarian non-governmental organization Meědecins du Monde in Damboa, Borno State is deeply disturbing and sad.
“On behalf of the United Nations, I convey my heartfelt condolences to the aid worker’s family and to her colleagues. I also wish a speedy recovery to a pilot working with the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) who was injured in the deplorable attack by an apparently rogue soldier.
“All humanitarian staff working in north-east Nigeria deserve our fullest respect for their courage and commitment to stay and deliver life-saving assistance to people in need in often difficult and dangerous circumstances. Humanitarian workers must be protected.
“I laud the Government and the military’s efforts to speedily investigate yesterday’s incident and urge them to strengthen remedial measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.”
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