For the second time in 14 years, the military yesterday invaded Zaki Biam, Benue State, following the killing of a soldier and a riot police officer in the town by armed robbers.
Investigation by New Telegraph revealed that the victims were returning from their duty post at dawn when they ran into a roadblock mounted by an armed robbery gang at a popular ‘Y’ Junction in Zaki Biam. The robbers opened fire on them and killed them. According to eyewitness accounts, the robbers came in a Toyota car and started shooting sporadically to scare residents.
They also robbed people of a large sum of mon-ey before leaving the town through Kassar Road. New Telegraph gathered that as a result of the impending invasion of the area by the army, most shops owners, schools, filling stations closed down in Zaki Biam causing tension in the area.
The eyewitness said as a result of the killing of the army officer, dozens of armed military personnel were yesterday deployed in a fully loaded lorry from Makurdi, the state capital, to the area, a development which brought the memory of the 2001 army invasion of the town. In 2001, a similar incidence occurred when soldiers were said to have been killed in the area, thereby prompting the invasion of the town and other surrounding villages by the military which killed scores of innocent people and destroyed property.
No comments:
Post a Comment