Commandant, 72 Battalion in Makurdi, Lt Colonel Suleiman Mohammed, on Saturday paraded the three militia herdsmen captured by troops while keeping the peace in Benue State.

The herdsmen were said to have been captured last Thursday while they were planning another deadly attack in Guma Local Government Area of the state by soldiers who were on patrol.

The commandant said that the armed herdsmen had engaged the troops in a gun battle before three of them were captured. One of them was wounded.

The captured herdsmen were identified as; Abubakar Umaru, Yusuf Alhaji Yaro and Adam Likita.

Mohammed said, “The three militia paraded were arrested in Guma area where they were planning another attack.

“Immediately they sighted the troops, they engaged them in gunfire, but the troops were able to arrest these suspects.”

Paraded along with the militia herdsmen were; AK 47, charms, handset and ammunition.

Two of the suspects;  Umaru and Yusuf during an interview with newsmen claimed that their meeting point was near a river under a mango tree in Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa state.

They denied involvement in the killings in Benue state, the duo said that they were not the actual culprit but were handed guns by their colleagues who ran away when they sighted soldiers.

However,  our correspondent reliably gathered from one of the troops that engaged the herdsmen in the bush that the injured one, who claimed to be 20 years old, Umaru, was shot several times but felt no impact.

According to the officer, who did not want to be mentioned who called them ‘these little boys’, added that, “you only see them small, they are very deadly, the one with injury did not blink an eye when the soldier was firing at him, in fact,  thirty bullets were pumped on him until he  turned and faced the soldier before bullet could hit his left arm.”

The anonymous officer said that the gun used was MG which he said was more powerful than AK47.

(PUNCHNG)