From Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
At least six soldiers and a Mopol officer were last night killed in Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State when armed herdsmen attacked the convoy of the Commanding Officer of 93 army Battalion Takum.
Spokesperson of the Police Command in Taraba DSP Abdullahi Usman who confirmed this to Daily Sun in a phone interview said that the CO has also been declared missing since last night after the attack.
Usman said that the command has already deployed reinforcement to the area to try and track down the attackers and rescue the CO who is suspected to have been abducted by the terrorists.
Meanwhile, a third explosion in the period of about a month went off last night at the headquarters of the 6 army Brigade in Jalingo the Taraba state capital.
Usman said that the device was planted close to the perimeter fence of the brigade headquarters and pulled down the fence without causing any human injury.
He further said the command has already deployed the anti bomb squad to the scene and it is currently carrying out their investigation.
According to the spokesman, the command was yet to ascertain who is carrying out the bomb attacks on the state but assured that serious investigation was ongoing to unravel those behind the heinous acts.
Meanwhile the Speaker of Taraba State House of Assembly Professor Joseph Albasu Kunini has condemned last night’s attacks on the CO’s convoy that led to the killing of Seven personnels and the bomb blast at the military base in Jalingo.
Kunini noted that the attacks are becoming a major threat to stability in the state and urged security agencies to go all out and tackle the situation.
He called on the people to be vigilant and report any suspicious movements to security agencies.
“Last night’s attacks in Takum and here in Jalingo are very worrisome. We can not allow this situation to continue. We can not accept this as our new normal. Let me urge all Tarabans to be vigilant and to provide relevant information to our security agencies to help them tackle this menace.
“Let me also use the opportunity to condole with the Nigerian Army and Police force over the sad loss of their personnels in Takum yesterday. This is in indeed a great lost to the Army, the Force, the families, Taraba state and Nigeria as a whole” Kunini said.
Our correspondent recall that there was an earlier bomb blast at a cattle market in Ardo Kola local government area of Taraba state that led to the death of about Six and a later one in Jalingo the left several persons injured all within a space of one month.