No fewer than six soldiers and a police officer have been reported killed in an ambush by gunmen in Tati, a community in Takum Local Government Area (LGA) of Taraba State.
Chairman of Takum LGA, Shiban Tikari, confirmed the incident to Channels Television via a telephone interview on Wednesday.
Narrating how the killings occurred, Tikari said the first victim was the police officer who sighted the terrorists approaching his checking point on foot and opened fire.
Several minutes after he opened fire, his magazine got exhausted and took to his heels. But the gunmen went after him and killed the policeman.
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The council boss explained that moments later, a convoy of the Commanding Officer 93 Battalion, Takum was passing by while gunshots were fired, so decided to stop and engage the terrorists.
In the process, the commanding officer was abducted and six other soldiers in the convoy were killed with their bodies recovered.
“These terrorists are well trained,” said Tikari. “If you hear of their mode of withdrawal and attacks, you will know that they are well trained. When the army got to Tati community, they heard the sporadic gunshots and because the terrain is a difficult one, they followed them up with motorcycles.
“The commanding officer is still at large and that is why the soldiers went into the bush in search of him. We recovered six corpses of the army personnel with the exception of the commanding officer. We are still waiting for them to come out so as to know more.”
Although the Commissioner of Police in Taraba, Abimbola Sokoya, has confirmed the incident, he said cannot speak for the Nigerian Army.
In addition to Tikari’s account, Sokoya revealed that the slain policeman was attached to the 67 Police Mobile Force (PMF) team in Takum.
He added that the incident left an unconfirmed number of locals killed and several houses razed, while a reinforcement had been sent to Takum to ensure a robust joint operation.
“There is a joint operation going on right now – i.e between the military and other security agencies and normalcy is being restored,” the police commissioner stated.
He explained that there has been an existing communal crisis between the Fulani herdsmen and the Kuteb-speaking tribe before the advent of the terrorists.
Sokoya also confirmed the bomb explosion that hit the 6 Army Brigade Headquarters in Jalingo on Tuesday night.
According to him, the Police Anti-Bomb Squad is investigating the incident and will soon update him on its findings.
