The Nigerian military has denied allegations that its troops killed civilians in an operation in Konshisha in Benue State.
The defence headquarters (DHQ) in a statement by its spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, said the troops went after suspected bandits who were occupying houses deserted by villagers.
Nwachukwu admitted that the houses were subsequently burnt by the troops. He said using villagers’ houses for hideouts was one of the tactics of the bandits to attract negative comments to the military.
“The Defence Headquarters wishes to put it on record that apart from these initial 10 bandits, there are no other civilian casualties recorded in any part of Konshisha till date,” the statement reads.
“We therefore challenge anybody from Konshisha to present to the public the 200, 70 or 30 dead bodies of innocent persons, male, female or children killed by troops in Konshisha. There was never a massacre as being touted by some mischief makers.
“The remnants of the armed bandits that escaped from Bonta withdrew into neighbouring villages where they kept on attacking troops as they continued with the search operation through Bonta into other parts of Konshisha.
“Knowing the implications of killing troops in cold blood, most of the villagers fled their homes which were then occupied by armed bandits who kept firing at troops from the settlements as they advanced into Konshisha.
“Troops repelled the attacks and destroyed the houses and other buildings which the criminals used as hideout for the attacks.
“The use of abandoned settlements by armed bandits to attack troops is popular with insurgents. The aim is to draw military fire into the dwellings and then turn round to blame soldiers for the destruction. This is common guerilla tactics armed bandits designed to whip up public sentiment against security forces and this is what played out in Konshisha.
“This accounts for some of the burnt houses being reported in the press.”
The DHQ spokesman also said that some of the recent photos of razed buildings were from earlier communal clashes between Konshisha and Oju.
Nwachukwu said the military would not tolerate the gruesome murder of patriotic soldiers on legitimate duty to keep the peace.
