Meanwhile, the military authorities have kept mum on the burning of villages and businesses in Obowo community in the Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of the state by soldiers as a reprisal.
The Nigerian Army has vowed to track down the gunmen that allegedly ambushed and killed five personnel of the Joint Task Force – Operation Search and Flush (OP SAF) in Imo State.
Meanwhile, the military authorities have kept mum on the burning of villages and businesses in Obowo community in the Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of the state by soldiers as a reprisal.
The General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division Nigerian Army and Commander of the Joint Task Force Operation UDO KA II, Major General Hassan Dada, said the army would bring the perpetrators to justice.
Dada said this when he visited soldiers who survived the attack in the hospital in Owerri.
SaharaReporters had reported that some gunmen who were yet to be identified on Tuesday attacked and killed eight security personnel attached to the Joint Task Force – OP SAF and subsequently burnt their two patrol vehicles along Owerri Onitsha highway at Obowo community in the Ehime Mbano Local Government Area Council.
However, the authorities said five were killed and that some of those shot survived.
Later, some soldiers returned to the community and burned down markets, houses and businesses in what appeared to be a reprisal.
However, the GOC in a statement issued by the Acting Deputy Director, 82 Division Army Public Relations, Lt. Col. Jonah Unuakhalu, while extending the appreciation of both the Chief of Defence Staff and the Chief of Army Staff to the soldiers, thanked them for their selfless sacrifice towards the restoration of peace in Imo State and the entire Southeast region by extension.
He said they would get the best medical services available at no cost to the soldiers while expressing hope for their quickest recovery.
According to the statement, Maj. Gen. Dada subsequently paid condolence visits to heads of sister security agencies who lost personnel in the incident.
He, however, urged all to remain focused and resolute in bringing to an end the violence in the Southeast region. He also assured them the existing cordial relations between them would be strengthened.