By Gbenga Abulude
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) to deploy additional 32 special forces to restore normalcy to Southern Kaduna where hundreds of locals were said to have been killed in recent weeks.
The special forces including 28 soldiers, two officers and two medical personnel are to complement an initial deployment of troops by the defence headquarters.
Speaking on the deployment in Kaduna on Saturday, the Air Officer Commanding (AOC), Air Vice Marshal Musa Mukhtar said the troops are to team up with the ones deployed to the area few days ago by the Defence headquarters.
He said the deployment of officers and soldiers who boarded the MI 171E helicopter was in compliance with a presidential directive which is to restore normalcy to Southern Kaduna.
AVM Mukhtar urged the combat team to have respect for human rights and be disciplined during the period.
“The special forces will be in Southern Kaduna for as long as need be, that’s according to the authorities and they will be partnering with other security personnel in the region to ensure the killings stop, and lasting peace restored to the area,”
“The air force would also be giving air support during the period. The air component of Operation Thunder Strike is to take charge of that”, he said.
Different communities in Southern Kaduna have continued to be attacked and hundreds of people have been killed by armed bandits and none has been arrested so far in connection with the killings.
In the past two months, communities in Zangon Kataf, Kauru, Kaura and Jama’a Local Government Areas have been under constant attacks by gunmen believed to be Fulani militia.
The state government had imposed a 24-hour curfew in the four LGAs to stop the killings, but the attacks continued despite the curfew.
The latest of the killings took place on Wednesday, August 5, 2020, when 33 people were killed in five communities in Zangon LGA.
The killings have been widely condemned by groups and individuals, including human rights orginsations across the country.
Hundreds of people, mostly women and children, were reported to have been killed following the attacks.
Thousands of people have been rendered homeless with many of them currently at the various camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
