Soldiers Kill Wedding Guests In Taraba

Nigerian soldiers have killed at least five wedding guests at Bassa village in Ardo-Kola Local Government Area of Taraba State.

They were returning from a wedding ceremony in Garin-Baka around 12 midnight on Thursday when soldiers on patrol assumed they were kidnappers and opened fire on them.

Isah Umar, who escaped, narrated how he and his friends riding on motorcycles back to their village, Basa, ran into the soldiers.

The student of Taraba State University said that on sighting the convoy of their motorcycles, the soldiers opened fire on them.

He said he escaped into the bush but his friend Habu Yerima who conveyed him on his motorcycle was not lucky as he was hit by a bullet and died instantly.

Although many said it was a case of mistaken identity, the parents insisted that the soldiers murdered their children intentionally.

Two of the victims were students of Taraba State University and Taraba State College of Agriculture, all in Jalingo, the state capital.

Parents of the victims who besieged the mortuary of Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo told reporters that their children were murdered in cold blood.

Bello Aliyu Jen, a father whose two sons were killed, demanded an immediate investigation.

“We need justice, the army must be accountable to the murder of our innocent children,” he said.

The five victims whose corpses were deposited at the Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo, morgue are Abdulkadir Bello, Tukur Bello, Philip Yakubu, Habu Yarima and Ya’u Misa.