The Defence Headquarters has debunked what it termed as spurious allegations following numerous publications and reports in the media and other online blogs about massive killing and destruction of houses and property by the military in Konshisha LGA of Benue State.
A statement by the Acting Director, Defence Information, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu said the DHQ which has oversight responsibility for Operation Whirl Stroke deployed to maintain peace in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States, has deemed it necessary to put the records straight.
The DHQ clarified that there have been incessant cases of communal clashes in recent times between the people of Konshisha and Oju over boundary demarcation.
“As part of efforts to resolve the crisis, the Benue State Government held series of meetings with stakeholders from both local governments with a view to arriving at amicable solution to the problem. Appreciable progress has been made and a final date fixed for all stakeholders to meet in the disputed areas to fully demarcate the boundary so that peace could reign. Trouble however started on the eve of the final meeting during Easter holiday, with reports that fresh fighting has broken out in the area.”
The statement further said, 72 Special Forces Battalion troops deployed on the Oju side of the boundary and troops of the Battalion were on their way to replenish their colleagues on 5 April 2021, when they were attacked by armed bandits at Bonta in Konshisha.
The troops who were under command of a Captain were seized at a checkpoint mounted by the so-called “Bonta Boys” and taken into Konshisha forest where they were all brutally murdered.
DHQ said the bandits proceeded to burn all the eleven soldiers and their officer beyond recognition while their weapons and ammunition were carted away.
Military reinforcements were dispatched to Bonta the following morning, unfortunately, the reinforcement also came under attack from close to 500 armed youths who by the time had fully occupied Bonta.
According to the statement, the number of youths involved in the attacks suggests that the armed bandits were joined by bandits from other parts of Konshisha LGA.
The military repelled the attack after more than 4 hours of intense fighting during which military helicopter provided close air support to ground troops, while ten armed bandits were killed during the fight with the rifle of one of the Killed in action soldiers recovered from the bandits who fell casualty during the exchange of fire.
The Defence Headquarters, therefore, put it on record that: “Apart from the initial 10 bandits, there are no other civilian casualties recorded in any part of Konshisha till date.”
It assured the public that there was never a massacre as being circulated by some publications, but the remnants of the armed bandits that escaped from Bonta withdrew into neighbouring villages where they kept on attacking troops as they continued with the search operation through Bonta into other parts of Konshisha.
The statement also said that “Knowing the implications of killing troops in cold blood, most of the villagers fled their homes which were then occupied by armed bandits who kept firing at troops from the settlements as they advanced into Konshisha. Troops repelled the attacks and destroyed the houses and other buildings which the criminals used as a hideout for the attacks.”
DHQ said the use of abandoned settlements by armed bandits to attack troops is popular with insurgents and bandits with the aim of drawing military fire into dwellings and then turn around to blame soldiers for the destruction.
PIAK
