Soldiers Shot Dead As Terrorists Attack Military Checkpoint At Zuma
Soldiers reportedly died on Thursday night after an attack by Boko Haram terrorists in a military checkpoint around Zuma rock in Niger State.
The attackers arrived the scene minutes after 7pm and opened fire instantly, Nexus News learnt.
“They took control of the area for about 30 minutes and kept on shooting before heading towards Kaduna axis of the expressway,” the source said to Daily Trust.
This comes as anxiety heightens in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) over possible terrorist raids.
There have been security concerns among residents of Abuja following the Kuje Prison attack in Abuja on 5 July.
Zuma rock is close to Madalla town, few meters away from Zuba along the Abuja-Kaduna highway.
Nexus News gathered that soldiers from Zuma Barracks hurried to the scene as well as a patrol team of policemen and took full control about 20 minutes after the terrorists fled.
On Sunday, soldiers attached to the Presidential Guards Brigade were killed in an ambush laid by terrorists.
24 hours after the incident, the management of Federal Government College, Kwali, asked parents to evacuate their children from the school following an attack by bandits in a neighbouring community.
Furthermore, the FCTA authorities and the Ministry of Education ordered the shutdown of schools in the FCT.
Nexus News recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari, whom terrorists threatened to kidnap headed a security meeting earlier on Thursday.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the meeting, Babagana Monguno, National Security Adviser admitted that Nigeria was in a “very difficult situation”.
According to Monguno, the President was conscious of people’s concerns about the heightening insecurity, adding that Nigerians were tired and gravitating towards self-help.
He said: “Today’s meeting was convened by the President, as a continuation of the meeting that took place last week to discuss the technical issues and the tasks that were given to the various security agencies. The meeting deliberated on all those issues, after the brief by the National Security Adviser, which is usually the procedure. Again, council deemed it necessary to inform the general public, that fighting this type of asymmetric conflict is a collective effort. It’s not something that should be confined to only the security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
“When we keep saying whole of society approach, whole of government approach, to get a whole of nation approach, what it means is that everybody has to partake in this enterprise. The truth is that no country can ever overcome the difficulties of an asymmetric conflict by virtue of the fact that the enemy of the state is embedded within the population within the wider society. It is true that the local people are averse, they’re scared, they’re worried and there’s no confidence. That is understandable. But without their support without the cooperation in terms of giving information, it makes it very hard for the operational elements.
“A few days ago, troops of the guards brigade were ambushed and decimated. Had there been a collective effort by way of just snippets of information we might have averted that incident.”
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