Soldier runs amok, kills humanitarian worker before he was neutralised

Reports say a soldier of the 25 Task Force Brigade in Borno went berserk and shot a female humanitarian aid worker to death while also killing a colleague in the process.

What happened: It was gathered that the errant soldier also attacked a co-pilot of one of United Nations helicopters with a jack knife.

The incident, which occurred on Thursday, November 17, 2022, could have resulted in more casualties but for the timing intervention of his colleague who had to neutralise the soldier.

Reacting to the development, the Theatre Command of “Operation HADIN KAI’’, expressed regret at the sad occurrence at one of its military bases.

Assistant Director, Army Public Relations Headquarters, Theatre Command, Maj. Samson Zhakom, said the soldier shot and killed a staff member of one of the NGOs providing humanitarian support in the Northeast.

“Same soldier also killed another soldier and injured the co-pilot of one of the UN helicopters. Own troops on the ground immediately neutralised the errant personnel,’’ said Zhakom.

He disclosed that the injured pilot had been stabilised after receiving medical attention while the corpses of the victims have been moved to the 7 Division Hospital.

Zhakom added that detailed investigation into the incident and subsequent remedial actions were already afoot.

How it happened: According to NAN, the now deceased soldier had walked off his base located in a remote town of Damboa in Borno on Thursday and went on a shooting spree using an Ak47 riffle.

On noticing the development, humanitarian workers of an international non-governmental organisation who were waiting at the military base to board a helicopter back to Maiduguri were forced to run for cover.

An eyewitness and worker of an humanitarian agency, Abdulkareem Ibrahim, told the news agency that the soldier emptied his magazine and after realising that he had ran out of bullets, he brought out a jack knife.

Ibrahim said, “He stabbed a female staff of one of the international NGOs four times, killing her before injuring the helicopter pilot."

He added that the rampaging soldier again turned and chased his colleagues before he was gunned down to prevent further disaster.