The Bauchi State Police Command has confirmed the death of a serving
officer, Bwala Mohamed, who was brutally killed by soldiers at a
checkpoint while three other policemen sustained varying degrees of
injury.
The incident took place at a military checkpoint in Panshanu Village,
along Bauchi-Jos Road in Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State.
Spokesman of the Command, DSP Haruna Mohammed, said the officers were
gruesomely attacked on their way to Kaduna Police College for a promotion
course on an 18-seater bus with registration number XG 398 GW.
Mohammed added that the attack took place when soldiers at the checkpoint
had successfully searched the vehicle and allowed it to proceed, but all
of a sudden, one unidentified soldier attached to 33 Artillery Brigade,
Bauchi, opened fire on the bus from the rear glass, killing one policeman
and injured three others and escaped through the nearby bush part.
It took the intervention of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the
area to arrest the situation and convey the injured officers to Toro
General Hospital for medical attention while the corpse of late Bwala
Mohammed was deposited at, the hospital mortuary.
The development, according to Mohammed, was calmed by combined security
forces apparently to pacify the crowd and restore normalcy to the area
when motorists and pedestrians took to the streets and barricaded the
road in protest against the killing.
He said one AK 47 rifle was abandoned by the trigger happy soldier with 31
rounds of live ammunition recovered while investigation into the matter
had begun.
The driver of the vehicle, Lawan Sani, said they were searched at the
military check point but unknowingly one of the soldiers on the run shot
at the car killing one Bwala Mohammed and injured three others.
Sani denied that they tried to escape search at the check point as
claimed by the army authorities.
Reacting, the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations of the 33
Artillery Brigade, Bauchi, Major Joseph Adekunle Afolashade, said the bus
drove dangerously through the check point which aroused suspicion that it
was carrying Boko Haram insurgents or some criminals.
Major Afolashade said the army later carried out preliminary
investigation that revealed that the victims were police men.
He said the situation had been brought under control and the road had
since opened to motorists even as he urged the general public to abide by
the rules at check point irrespective of their status to avoid recurrence
of such incident in the future.
” The general public is also requested to note that the current situation
in the country especially with the ongoing operation in North East to
clear the remnants of Boko Haram terrorists from their hideouts, there is
need to ensure no escaping terrorists or weapons are allowed to infiltrate
other parts of the country”, he said.