Soldier kills colleague, female aid worker, injures pilot, UN worker in Borno

In what will come across as a really startling development, a Nigerian Army soldier attached to the Special Forces of the 25 Task Force (TF) Brigade in the remote town of Damboa, Borno State has gone wild.

The soldier was reportedly gunned down after he went wild, killing an unarmed civilian, and his fellow soldier and injuring many others.

It was learnt that the soldier opened fire, resulting in the killing of, at least, one female humanitarian aid worker and injuring a United Nations pilot.

The soldier was said to have walked off his base at about 3 pm Thursday and went on a shooting rampage using an AK-47 rifle.

The situation forced the international non-governmental organisation passengers waiting to board a helicopter back to Maiduguri to scamper for safety, a source in the United Nations told Zagazola Makama, a Counter-Insurgency expert and Security Analyst in Lake Chad.

According to the report, after the soldier exhausted his bullet, he brought out a jack knife and stabbed a female staff of Medecins du Monde (France) on Nigeria Mission, four times killing her before injuring the helicopter pilot.

The rampaging soldier again turned and chased his fellow colleagues before he was gunned down to prevent further disaster.

The pilots and the crew were said to be safely back in Maiduguri while efforts are ongoing to stabilise the wounded pilot at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital Maiduguri.

The Theatre Command, Operation Hadin Kai, in its reaction said, “The Theatre Command Operation HADIN KAI regrets to inform the general public of a sad occurrence at one of our military bases today. 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 ground immediately neutralised the errant personnel. The injured co-pilot has been stabilised while the corpses of the deceased have been moved to the 7 Division Hospital.

“Detailed investigation into the incident and subsequent remedial actions have commenced into the highly regrettable incident. Further details will be provided later,” said Samson Nantip Zhakom, Major Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, from the Theatre Command, Operation HADIN KAI.