The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, has directed the immediate reinforcement of troops on operational duties in Niger State with additional military equipment.
This followed the recent encounter between the military and terrorists in Zungeru and Shiroro areas of the state.
The move, The Nation learnt, was meant to enhance the operational effectiveness of the troops against terrorists occupying some parts of the state.
A statement yesterday in Abuja by Army spokesperson, Brig.-Gen Onyema Nwachukwu, said the COAS issued the directive after visiting the Forward Operating base at Erena in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State on Tuesday.
The COAS was briefed on the security situation in the area by the General Officer Commanding I Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj.-Gen. Bamidele Alabi.
On Monday, bandits ambushed and killed 13 soldiers on the Zungeru-Tegina road at Madaka Ward in the Rafi Local Government Area of the state.
Some bandits also claimed responsibility for the shooting down of a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) helicopter conveying wounded soldiers on Chukuba village in Shiroro Local Government Area, killing all military personnel onboard.
Lagbaja urged the troops to rally together, remain more resolute in bringing the enemies to their knees and restore sanity in troubled areas.
The statement added that the COAS told the troops that protecting lives and defending their country were the noblest service they could offer, hence should not allow their morale to dwindle.
“You are, therefore, in the noble profession of arms and must not allow your morale to dwindle. We must defeat the adversaries of our people and take back every inch of space where they are hibernating in our land,” he said.
Also, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, yesterday visited the wounded soldiers receiving treatment at the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna.
The CDS urged officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces to give their best in the defence of the country.
He said the military job comes with risks, assuring the troops that the Armed Forces would ensure the welfare and treatment of its wounded personnel, even if they needed to be flown abroad.
“Without the troops, nothing can be done in the fight against insecurity and criminality. We are, therefore, together with them and praying for their quick recovery,” he said.
Also, the NAF has demised the claim by a group of bandits that they shot down the NAF MI-171 helicopter that crashed on Monday at Chukuba village in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
It insisted that the crash was caused by bad weather when the helicopter was on a casualty evacuation mission from Zungeru Primary School in Niger State to Kaduna.
A suspected notorious terrorist, Dogo Gide, and his members claimed responsibility for the crash in a video they posted on the social media on Tuesday.
But in a statement yesterday in Abuja by its spokesperson, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, the NAF described the claim as mere propaganda it would not give in to.
The statement said the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, made the clarification when he visited Niger State Governor Umaru Bago in Minna, the state capital.
The CAS noted that like all military organisations involved in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations, fatalities, mishaps, and crashes are sometimes inevitable.
