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The Federal Government is to probe the fatal altercation between men of the 93 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Takum and officers of the ASP Felix Adolije-led IGP Intelligence Response Team in Taraba State.
The clash resulted in the death of three members of the special squad and a civilian as well as injuries to others.
Specifically, the soldiers opened fire on the policemen that they had mistaken for kidnappers. The team from the force headquarters in Abuja was actually on a covert assignment in the state.
This comes as chairman of Takum council area, Shiban Tikiari, yesterday escaped death after his convoy was attacked by unknown gunmen.
The decision to probe the clash was arrived at during another meeting yesterday between President Muhammadu Buhari and the service chiefs to review efforts at addressing the nation’s deteriorating security situation in Abuja.
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who dropped the hint while briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, said council was satisfied with the current efforts being taken, stating that substantial progress had been in all aspects of the conflicts.
On the Taraba row, he said: “A committee will be set up under the Defence Headquarters to critically look into the circumstances that led to the unfortunate incident.”
Also at security meeting were the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonishakin, Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Yusuf Buratai and a representative of IGP Mohammed Adamu.
But Tikiari, who was returning from a condolence to Wukari, identified the gunmen as “Tiv militias.”
He said that the attack took place along Takum-Wukari road at Kofa Ahamadu village.
The chairman said he and his colleagues from the southern geopolitical zones of the state had paid a condolence visit to their counterpart in the neighbouring Donga council area.
He said two of the policemen that accompanied him sustained varying degrees of injuries, alleging: “The attack was a calculated plan by the Tiv to kill me.”
Tikiari said but for the decision to travel in the vehicle of his orderlies, he would have been killed.
Confirming the attack, the Police Public Relations Office (PPRO) in the state, David Misal, said it was carried out by suspected hoodlums with two cops sustaining gunshot injuries.
Meanwhile, the police high command has faulted the military for saying it mistook the murdered policemen in Taraba for “suspected kidnappers.”
The Force Public Relations (FPRO), DCP Frank Mba, in a statement, said it was insensitive, disrespectful and unpatriotic for the military to describe the dead as ‘suspected kidnappers’.
