Nigerian troops fifire at general
Twelve soldiers killed in town where girls were abducted.
After an ambush by Boko Haram militants that left 12 soldiers dead, angry Nigerian troops opened fire on their own commanding offifficer.
BAUCHI, NIGERIA— Islamic militants again attacked the remote Nigerian town from which nearly 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped, Nigeria’s military said Wednesday, resulting in a firefight that killed 12 soldiers and led angry troops to fire on a commanding officer.
Soldiers said the troops fired at a senior officer who came to pay respects to the killed soldiers, whose bodies were brought to a barracks in Maiduguri. The capital of northeastern Borno state is about 80 miles north of the town of Chibok, where the girls were abducted a month ago.
The incident is a sign of demoralization in the military that is in charge of the search operation for the abducted schoolgirls. The failure of Nigeria’s government and military to find them after the April 15 mass abduction has brought mounting national and international outrage and forced Nigeria’s government to accept international help.
Nigeria’s Ministry of Defense played down the incident, saying soldiers “registered their anger about the incident by firing into the air. The situation has since been brought under control, as there is calm in the cantonment …”
But soldiers who were at the scene at Mailamari Barracks said infuriated troopers fired directly at the vehicle carrying Maj. Gen. Ahmadu Mohammed, the general officer commanding the army’s 7 Division. He was not hit.
The witnesses said the soldiers were angry because they wanted to spend the night in a village and told their command the road was dangerous after the attack just outside Chibok. They were ordered to travel instead and were ambushed, with at least 12 killed. The soldiers spoke on condition of anonymity because they want to keep their jobs.