Plateau Massacre: DHQ Explains Reason For Troops’ Delayed Response

The Defence Headquarters has blamed the delayed response of troops during the attacks in Plateau State’s Bokkos and Biriki-Ladi Local Government Areas to terrain and other factors.

Naija News reports that the Director of Defense Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, said in a Wednesday interview with Punch that the troops had received over thirty distress calls during the strikes, but they were hindered by the challenging terrain and other circumstances.

He added that it was challenging for the forces to arrive at the spots in time because of the way the attackers coordinated and carried out the strikes at various locations.

Edward went on to say that the military was rearranging its plans in order to guarantee prompt response going forward.

He said, “The assailants took advantage of the relative peace that had returned to the state due to the military pressure of the past months. There were over 30 distressed calls from the communities when the attack was ongoing. Before troops could arrive at some of the locations, the havoc had been done.

“The combination of the difficult terrain and other factors played a role in delaying troops’ arrival at some of the locations.

“The assailants had intentionally planned to attack several locations at the same time to make it difficult for troops to reach there on time. Troops strategy is being rejigged to allow faster intervention in the future.”

Naija News recalls that Plateau state governor Caleb Mutfwang faulted the military’s response during the attack, he said that the military could have done better in terms of response to the attack.

In a similar vein, Amnesty International urged the authorities on Tuesday to look into why the security services were unable to stop the attacks.

According to AI Country Director Isa Sanusi, their investigation revealed that the assailants moved from village to village for more than 48 hours.