SAN FRANCISCO, March 29, (THEWILL) – The remains of the 11 slain soldiers killed by armed bandits at Kampanin doka village in Birnin Gwari local government area of Kaduna State were laid to rest on Thursday at the Commonwealth cemetery, Kaduna.
THEWILL recalls that armed bandits attacked the village on last week Tuesday and in the process killed 11 soldiers who were deployed there on military operations code named “Exercise Ayem Akpatuma” (Cat Race).
The late soldiers are, Private Olabode Hammed (Ogun state), Private Bamidele Adekunle Emmanuel (Ogun State), Private Owochukwu Christian Chigoziri (Rivers State), Private Adamu Muhammed (Bauchi State) Private Lamara Ahmed (Jigawa State), Private Mubarak Suleiman (Plateau State), Private Bashir Sani (Katsina State), Private Usman Abubakar Jalo (Gombe state), Private Nafiu Iliyasu (Jigawa State), Private Safiyanu Ahmed (Jigawa State) and Private Alhassan Ibrahim (Kaduna State).
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai represented by the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division Army Headquarters Kaduna, Major General Mohammed Mohammed, in his speech, described the death of the soldiers as painful.
While condoling the families of the deceased soldiers, the COAS said the military will stop at nothing to fish out the perpetrators of the attack and bring them to justice accordingly.
“We will remain committed towards guaranteeing the peace and security of Nigeria and Nigerians regardless of situations such as this, we will not run away,” he said.
“We will continue to fight against all forms of arm banditry, cattle rustling, kidnapping and other criminalities in the country.”
On his part, the Kaduna state Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, represented by the Secretary to the State government, Lawal Balarebe, also expressed his condolence to the family of the deceased.
He promised the support of the government for the grieving families and donated Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N500, 000:00) to each of the next of kin to the slain soldiers in a single cheque amounting to 5.5 million naira.
