Gunmen have killed an army captain and 11 other soldiers in an ambush in Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State.
An army team comprising Captain A.T. Adebayo and four soldiers was on a routine patrol to the joint Operation Whirl Stroke in Oju Local Government Area of the state on Monday when the incident occurred.
While passing through Konshisha town, the gunmen, numbering over 150, laid ambush on the officer and the four soldiers and killed them on the spot, Daily Nigerian reported sources as saying.
A source added that when the officer and the soldiers were discovered missing, a detachment of seven soldiers from Oju was sent out to Konshisha town to look for them.
The seven soldiers who were sent on reinforcement mission too never returned alive, the newspaper attributed another source as saying.
After several hours of waiting in vain for their return, a robust search and rescue joint operation of troops and Operation WHIRL STROKE were sent to search for them.
The remains of the soldiers were later found in a forest in Gbinde village, just as the soldiers operational vans were burnt to ashes.
The source added that the gunmen had made away with the rifles and thousands of ammunition of the dead soldiers.
Konshisha town is a regular route used by troops deployed in Oju and Katsina-Ala local government areas of the state.
The town has become notorious for harbouring bandits and other militia groups.