Military parades armed herdsmen
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The Commandant of 72 Battalion in Makurdi, Benue State, Lt.-Col. Suleiman Mohammed, on Saturday, paraded three herdsmen captured by troops in the state.
The herdsmen were said to have been captured by soldiers on patrol last Thursday while planning another deadly attack on the Guma Local Government Area of the state.
Mohammed said the herdsmen had engaged the troops in a fierce battle before three of them were captured. One of them was said to have been wounded.
The herdsmen were identified as Abubakar Umaru, Yusuf Yaro and Adam Likita.
Speaking on the whereabouts of the Boko Haram kingpin, Aminu Yaminu, alias Tashaku, arrested on Friday, the commandant said the suspect was in military custody, adding that investigation was ongoing.
He said, “The three (members of) militia paraded were arrested in the Guma area, where they were planning another attack.
“Immediately they sighted the troops, they engaged them in gunfire, but the troops were able to arrest these suspects.”
Paraded along with the herdsmen were AK-47 rifles, charms, handsets and ammunition.
Two of the suspects, Umaru and Yusuf, told journalists that their meeting point was near a river under a mango tree in the Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
They denied any involvement in the killings in Benue State, claiming that their colleagues, who ran away when they sighted soldiers, handed them guns.
Our correspondent, however, reliably gathered from one of the troops that engaged the herdsmen in the bush that Umaru, the injured herdsman, who claimed to be 20 years old, was shot several times.
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