Soldiers kill two police officers over ‘misunderstanding’ in Taraba

The Taraba police command says two of its operatives have been killed by soldiers in the state.

NAN reports that Abdullahi Usman, spokesperson of the command, announced the development while speaking to journalists on Monday.

Usman said two police officers also sustained injuries and are now receiving treatment.

He said the cause of the incident was a misunderstanding between a female police officer who was reporting for duty at the collation centre in Jalingo and a soldier at a military checkpoint.

“A very ugly incident happened this morning around 8:30 am between a female police officer and a soldier. After the initial misunderstanding, the lady was allowed to proceed to her duty post, but later the soldier went back to drag her out,” NAN quoted Usman as saying.

“The thing is that he called for reinforcement from his office, and when it arrived, he had nothing to report and decided to create a situation.

“While we were trying to settle things and I was personally taken to one of the senior soldiers there, the soldiers suddenly started shooting. We were caught in the crossfire and had to run for our dear lives.

“One police officer who was going off duty was shot and killed instantly while another who was just reporting for duty and did not even know what was happening was also shot the moment they identified him as a policeman.

“As we speak, we have gotten reports that our men who are escorting election results or on various duties are being stopped at military checkpoints and harassed. They strip them naked and harass them even though they know nothing about what happened.

“For now, the Commissioner of Police, Yusuf A. Suleiman, and the Commander of 6 Brigade Jalingo have met and discussed and have agreed that a commission of inquiry will be set up to look into the real cause of this incident.”