The 72 Special Force Battalion in Makurdi, Benue State, says it has lost eleven of its personnel in the incessant crises between farmers and fulani herdsmen in Benue State.
The Commanding Officer of the battalion, Col. Timothy Lagbaja, said the deceased included four officers and seven soldiers. He disclosed further that of the number, eight of them (including two officers and six soldiers) were killed in one day in an Agatu raid.
Lagbaja made the disclosure yesterday during a courtesy visit of the correspondent chapel of the state’s Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to his office. The deaths were recorded between 2012 and 2015.
Lagbaja also said that the battalion has lost 16 soldiers to Boko Haram in the Northeast of the country between November last year and June this year, while surviving injured are receiving the best of medical treatment at home and abroad.
He said the battalion was installing a monument at the barrack’s entrance to engrave names of the fallen heroes as a mark of remembrance for the soldiers killed in the fight against insurgents.
The commander, nonetheless, added that his men are not deterred and are still in high spirits to join forces with their colleagues across the country to put an end to the security crises in the nation.
Meanwhile, Lagbaja attributed the relative peace currently being enjoyed in the state to the deployment of nearly 500 soldiers attached to two separate joint task forces to crisis prone rural areas in several local government areas of the state to combat the recurring herders and farmers clashes.
“We have gone a very long way in combating the challenge. People can now drive safely to those places that came under heavy attack previously. What we have now are isolated clashes. They are no longer on a daily basis as it used to be. We have also been able to mop out arms in large quantity from various militias,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, chairman of the chapel, Aloysius Umalo, commended the army for ensuring peace and quiet in the state, even as he condoled with the families who lost loved ones to the clashes
Source: DAILY SUN
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