Agency Report/
Army and Police authorities have constituted a Joint Investigation Panel to investigate the incident involving the troops of 93 Battalion, Takum, Taraba leading to the death of some police personnel on Tuesday.
Col. Sagir Musa, Acting Director of Army Public Relations, in a statement on Wednesday, says the panel will be headed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Criminal Investigations Department, DIG Mike Ogbizi.
According to Musa, the panel would jointly investigate and report on the true circumstances surrounding the incidence in order to avert future occurrences.
He also mentioned that until the Joint Investigation Panel concludes and submits its report, it would be premature to officially conclude and speak on the real circumstances that caused the avoidable incident.
The army spokesperson explained that the said army troops, while responding to a distress call to rescue a kidnapped victim exchanged fire with the suspected kidnappers along Ibi-Wukari Road in the State.
He added that the officers who were mistaken for kidnappers numbering about 10 drove in a white bus marked LAGOS MUS 564 EU and they refused to stop when they were halted by troops at three consecutive check points.
According to him, the flagrant refusal to stop at the three checkpoints prompted a hot pursuit by the troops.
“It was in this process that the suspected kidnappers who were obviously armed opened fire at the troops sporadically thus prompting them to return fire.
“In the resultant firefight, four suspects were shot and died on the spot while four others sustained various degrees of gunshot wounds and two others reportedly missing.
“It was only after this avoidable outcome that one of the wounded suspects disclosed the fact that they were indeed Policemen dispatched from Nigerian Police, Force Headquarters, Abuja for a covert assignment,” he stated.
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