By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS
Up to 30 people were said to have been killed in Nigeria's northeastern Taraba State in an alleged retaliatory attack by soldiers avenging the death of their colleagues, a claim an army official has denied.
"The people of Kurmi, Wadata and Kadarko in Wase local council area made a report at our office that no less than 30 innocent civilians were killed by soldiers who claimed that some people from these villages had killed their colleagues," Mark Lipdo, a human rights activist, told The Anadolu Agency by phone on Sunday.
The soldiers also allegedly burnt down some houses in these areas, including the palace of a traditional chief.
"We cannot confirm the veracity of this claim yet because some mercenaries are known to operate from that area," said Lipdo, also the head of Stefanos Foundation, a local nonprofit relief organization.
"Until the army says its own side of the claim, it may be too early to draw any conclusion," he added.
Nigeria's defence spokesman Chris Olukolade said the claim "flies in the face of facts."
"How can the army open fire on innocent citizens they are protecting? It simply does not add up," he told AA when asked to comment on the report.
"You are aware that some miscreants have been targeting civilians in that axis of the [Taraba] state, including targeting soldiers," said Olukolade.
"The so-called attack on civilians was an operation by troops to flush those criminal elements from the area," he asserted.
Taraba, a state in the restive northeast, has largely been insulated from the Boko Haram insurgency.
But the state, like Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau in the north central, is equally plagued by ethnic clashes flowing from disagreements over farmlands and other things.
