About 16 persons sustained varying degrees of injuries in the incident which occurred on Tuesday in Mafa Market.
The Nigerian Army has said that it has arrested a soldier for killing seven civilians including a three-year-old girl in Mafa Local Government Area of Borno State.
Col. Obinna Azuikpe, Intelligence Coordinator, Theatre Command of the Operation Hadin Kai, disclosed this while briefing journalists on the military’s operations in the North-East.
Azuikpe said that about 16 persons sustained varying degrees of injuries in the incident which occurred on Tuesday in Mafa Market.
He attributed the incidents to “post traumatic stress disorder and drug abuse”.
The senior officer said that the injured victims had been hospitalised, while the “shooter” arrested by the military police.
He said the Theatre Commander, Christopher Musa, has set up a joint committee to review the existing codes of conduct in the operations.
“This included ensuring that soldiers don’t stay more than three months without given permission to go and see their families.
”We have noticed that soldiers usually misbehave when you keep them for long.
“The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya has also introduced Welfare Flight scheme for the troops where every two weeks, soldiers who traveled as far as the eastern parts of the country would be supported to travel to their various destinations,” he said.
In April 2021, Kila Jima, a corporal in the Army’s 152 Battalion, Banki, Borno State, killed himself.
In March 2021 l, a soldier, Bello Useni, with the Nigerian Army School of Armour in Bauchi killed himself.
In September 2020, a lance corporal attached to the Army’s 27 Task Force Brigade in Buni Gari, Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State, committed suicide at his duty post.
In July 2020, a soldier in the Army’s 202 battalion in Bama, Borno State, killed a lieutenant, who did not give him pass to visit his family.
In 2019, a soldier hanged himself in Abuja.
And in 2017, another soldier committed suicide after killing his superior officer.
The recurring nature of such incidences has raised concerns about whether soldiers fighting Boko Haram are receiving adequate mental and psychological treatment.
Some of the soldiers have in the past complained about poor welfare, overstaying in the region and ill treatment by the military hierarchy.
They said they were battling with depression and post-traumatic disorder because the authorities refused to carry out a rotation.