Breaking News
Buratai Visits Soldiers/UN Humanitarian Staffs Injured in Boko Haram Ambush
By Senator Iroegbu in Abuja
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai has visited the wounded soldiers, and the three staff of the United Nations’ agencies and other international humanitarian organisations that were injured during an ambush by Boko Haram terrorists in Borno State on Thursday.
The Director of Army Public Relations (DAPR), Col. SaniUsman, said that Buratai visited the victims at the Accident and Emergency Ward of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital at about 10.00pm on Thursday.
Usman said the COAS who was accompanied by the Theatre Commander Operation Lafiya Dole, some Principal Staff Officers from the Army Headquarters (AHQ) and the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division, interacted
with the wounded soldiers and civilians and encouraged them and wished them speedy recovery.
The Army Spokesman had earlier confirmed that the “troops returning from Bama on humanitarian escort duty, were ambushed enroute Maiduguri by suspected rem- nants of Boko Haram terrorists hiding in Meleri village, a few kilometres from Kawuri.”
However, the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in a statement following the attacks announced temporary suspension of the humanitarian services to the North East.
The United Nations said the incident was not only an attack on humanitarian workers but on the people who most need the assistance and aid that these workers were bringing”. “The United Nations has temporarily
suspended humanitarian assistance missions pending review of the security situation,” it stated.
Meanwhile, the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, yesterday called for calm as the United Nation’s announced that it would be suspending aid deliveries in Nigeria following the attack on the humanitarian convoy.
Saraki in a statement by his Media Office, condemned the attack in the strongest possible
terms, stating that it was unac- ceptable to endanger the lives of aid workers, who were only trying to assuage the situation in the North East.
Saraki further called for an immediate review of the security situation in the North East by the relevant authorities, stating that it was necessary to alleviate the concerns of international partners who are set to help rebuild the crisis-torn areas.
