{"id":106967,"date":"2023-08-15T10:52:58","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T09:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=106967"},"modified":"2023-08-15T10:52:58","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T09:52:58","slug":"naf-aircraft-shot-down-by-bandits-13-soldiers-killed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/naf-aircraft-shot-down-by-bandits-13-soldiers-killed\/","title":{"rendered":"NAF aircraft shot down by bandits, 13 soldiers killed"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"auto\">Bandits have reportedly invaded Chukuba Ward in the Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State killing 13 Soldiers.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\nA youth leader in the community said the criminals brought down a fighter helicopter and killed the pilot.<\/p>\n<p>The Convener, Shiroro Concerned Youths, Mr Sanni Kokki, disclosed this in a telephone interview with journalists in Abuja on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>They ambushed and killed 13 soldiers along the Zungeru-Tegina road in Madaka Ward of Rafi Local Government Area of the state.<\/p>\n<p>He said the unfortunate incident happened on Monday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Kokki said, \u201cAs we are talking now, the villagers living around the area are all now moving towards Erena.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is another problem again because people are being displaced from their traditional homes to unknown destinations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are having another humanitarian crisis on our hands with the economic challenges confronting our people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When contacted, the Senator representing Niger East Senatorial District, Mohammed Sani Musa, lamented the situation, describing it as highly unfortunate.<\/p>\n<p>He called on the federal government to dispatch all its military and security arsenals to the troubled areas in order to save innocent lives and their property.<\/p>\n<p>Musa said, \u201cThis is a very serious situation happening at a time when we are happy that the issue of banditry is subsiding in our various communities in Niger State.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Federal Government should, as a matter of urgency, deploy all its arsenal in order to curtail further spread.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have been having a reduction in cases of attacks but now it appears as if there is a serious escalation of the situation<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most alarming situation now is that the attacks look like a planned work because the bandits are carrying out their operations simultaneously in many parts of Niger State.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government should please, as a matter of urgency, take drastic action on it and save the lives and property of our people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Confirming the incident in a statement on Monday, the NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, said the aircraft departed Zungeru Primary School en route to Kaduna but was later discovered to have crashed in a village in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger.<\/p>\n<p>It partly read, \u201cA Nigerian Air Force MI-171 Helicopter on a casualty evacuation mission crashed today, August 14, 2023, at about 1.1.00 pm Chukuba Village in Niger State.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe aircraft had departed Zungeru Primary School en route Kaduna but was later discovered to have crashed near Chukuba Village in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gabkwet said efforts are ongoing to rescue the pilots and passengers on board.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEfforts are currently ongoing to rescue the crew and passengers on board the helicopter, while preliminary investigations have commenced to determine the probable cause of the crash,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n<div class=\"yj6qo\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"adL\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bandits have reportedly invaded Chukuba Ward in the Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State killing 13 Soldiers. A youth leader in the community said the criminals brought down a&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>NAF aircraft shot down by bandits, 13 soldiers killed - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/naf-aircraft-shot-down-by-bandits-13-soldiers-killed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NAF aircraft shot down by bandits, 13 soldiers killed - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bandits have reportedly invaded Chukuba Ward in the Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State killing 13 Soldiers. 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