ARMY CAPTAIN, TODDLER, KILLED IN KADUNA

The increasing state of insecurity in Kaduna state especially along the major entry and exit points leading to the state, has resulted in death of about four persons which included an army captain, a toddler and two others.

This is despite the supposedly increased presence of securiry operatives along the Kaduna-Abuja expressway and also, the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari highway with the Birnin Gwari road now described as notorious for armed banditry with many lives lost on a weekly basis and kidnapping.



This latest incident which involved a convoy of commercial vehicles traveling to to Kwara state in three Kwara state Express Buses when the bandits struck.

According to one of the survivors; an officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, four people, including an army officer, an infant and two other died on the spot with many others sustaining varying degrees of injuries.

"The incident happened when we left Kaduna around 8:00 a.m. on Sunday and we were heading to Ilorin in Kwara State in a convoy of three Kwara Express buses when we ran into about 20 armed bandits near Palwaya in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State around 10:30 a.m", he said.

"The armed men flagged the vehicles to stop and park, but the driver tried to escape and they opened fire on the vehicles which led to the death of an army captain whose name he gave as David Ejisoro, a toddler and two unidentified people who were in the bus".

"The toddler was shot in the head and her mother was shot in the breast", he said.

The eyewitness said they were taken to Birnin Gwari Hospital where the mother allowed for the dead daughter to be buried in Birnin Gwari after she had informed her husband.

Speaking to the press, the Customs officer informed that security operatives who came with reinforcements cleared the road after it was blocked for some hours and they had been transferred to Kaduna under armed escort for proper health check-ups.

Kaduna Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mukhtar Husseini Aliyu said while eeacting, disclosed that information available to the police indicated that three people died in the unfortunate incident.

According to the PPRO, investigations were still going on to apprehend the criminals.

(Daily Trust)