Residents of Iree town in Boripe Local Government Area of Osun State have been thrown into panic over fears of a reprisal attack due to an attack on Nigerian Army personnel in the town.
A soldier whose identity could not be ascertained was assaulted and left wounded on Tuesday by some hoodlums at the Poly Junction area of Iree.
The cause of the disagreement that led to the attack on the soldier, who was dressed in Nigerian Army camouflage, is also not yet known.
Bystanders who observed the altercation could not intervene for fear of getting assaulted by the hoodlums.
A trader at Poly Junction, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “The incident happened today. I don’t know what happened between the hoodlums and the soldier, but I saw them beating him.
“We were even begging the hoodlums to leave him. The hoodlums were led by one Gbedu. He is a notorious thug in the town. They beat the soldier and broke his head. They later left him drenched in his blood.”
He added that some soldiers arrived at the scene and took the wounded soldier away.
However, the incident has left many people in the town scared for fear of reprisal attacks by soldiers.
As a result, shops were observed to be closed, and residents, including students of the polytechnic, remained indoors.
The spokesperson of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Osun Command, Kehinde Adeleke, confirmed the incident.
He stated, “Some miscreants in Iree attacked some personnel of the Nigerian Army who were on a mission to Osun State Polytechnic, Iree and wounded some of them. What led to the attack was still sketchy.”
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