- The army hierarchy said the slain officers “were courageous till the end”.
- The army confirmed the killing of some of the troops on Tuesday.
The Nigerian Army has extolled the bravery of the soldiers who died during a firefight with bandits in Kundu, a community near Zungeru in Wushishi LGA of Niger state.
The army hierarchy said the slain officers “were courageous till the end”.
Onyema Nwachuckwu, the army spokesperson, who did not specify the number of casualties from the attack, confirmed the killing of some of the troops on Tuesday.
“I can confirm that there was an incident in Wushishi LGA of Niger state. Our gallant patriots paid the supreme price when they ran into an ambush staged by insurgents,” he said.
“They were courageous till the end. They stood their ground and defended our great country with their lives.”
“The focus now is how to console and bring respite to those they left behind. Sadly the incident occurred while the chief of army staff is on an operational tour of the north-west operations theatre for on-the-spot assessment and reinvigoration of ongoing operations.”
Nwachukwu added that Toaheed Lagbaja, chief of army staff, has headed to the affected location to encourage the troops.
Within Nigeria had reported that a Nigerian Air Force helicopter on an evacuation mission crashed in Niger state on Monday.
Edward Gabkwet, the spokesperson of NAF, who announced the incident in a statement on Monday, said the helicopter crashed at about 1 pm near Chukuba village in Shiroro LGA of the state.
Gabkwet said the aircraft had departed Zungeru Primary School en route to Kaduna, but was later discovered to have crashed near Chukuba village.
The crashed aircraft was believed to be taking the injured troops from the scene of the attack to a military hospital in Kaduna for medical attention
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