A wayward personnel of the Nigerian Army has killed a humanitarian worker in Borno State today. He also shot another soldier to death and injured a pilot, who is reported to be flying a United Nations helicopter. In a statement this evening, the Nigerian Army confirmed the incident. Maj. Samson Nantip Zhakom, one of the spokespeople of Operation Hadin Kai, under which the said soldier works, also said the incident occurred today at about 03:00 pm.
“A soldier shot and killed a staff of one of the NGOs providing humanitarian support in the North East. Same soldier also killed another soldier and injured the co-pilot of one of the UN helicopters. Own troops on the ground immediately neutralized the errant personnel,” the major said.
A co-worker of the deceased told YERWA EXPRESS NEWS that the deceased is an expatriate from Ethiopia and works with Medicine de Mondene. She was killed while on a round trip mission in the northeastern Nigerian state. On his part, he explained that the soldier stabbed her to death with a knife, as well as his colleague who tried to disarm him, which runs contrary to the account given by the army.
‘Both the aid worker and the soldier died,’ the source told our reporter.
The Nigerian Army stated that the injured pilot has been stabilized while the corpses of the deceased have been moved to the 7 Division Hospital in Maiduguri.
‘Detailed investigation into the incident and subsequent remedial actions have commenced into the highly regrettable incident,’ Zackom added.
YERWA EXPRESS NEWS cannot at the moment ascertain why the soldier took such an action, as there are only sketchy details available yet. A similar incident occurred in Bama two years. A junior officer gunned down his superior for not granting him a pass to travel. Some of the reasons cited by experts for such actions include longdrawn undetected depression, drugs, trauma and sometimes even long stay at the frontlines.
