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The incident happened at Kaduna airport due to ‘bad weather and landing’, the army says.
Officials say Lieutenant General of the Nigerian Army Commander-in-Chief Ibrahim Attahiru and other military men were killed when their plane crashed in the north of the country.
What happened on Friday was due to “poor weather” while the plane was landing at Kaduna International Airport, the armed forces said in a statement that the accident “took the lives of 10 other officers, including the crew.”
No immediate information was given about what could have caused the plane crash, but Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima said more details will be provided soon. The names of other dead military officials were not made public.
The Nigerian Army has deplored the announcement of the death of its Army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru. The sad incident came after an air accident in Kaduna which also claimed the lives of 10 other officers including the crew.
– Nigerian Army (@HQNigerianArmy) May 21, 2021
Attahiru was the only head of the Army General Staff named As a result of the shake-up of the highest military order issued by President Muhammadu Buhari in January, he is better able to tackle rapid violence, including more than a decade of fighting against the Boko Haram armed group.
Buhari, a former general elected for the first time in 2015, has come under increasing pressure from allies and critics as his government escalates security problems in the country.
In a statement, the president said the accident was “a fatal blow to our stomachs, while at the same time our armed forces are ready to put an end to the security challenges facing the country.”
He claimed the lives of Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru and other military officers in deep distress. All of them are heroes who paid the final price for peace and security on earth.
– Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) May 21, 2021
The U.S. diplomatic mission to Nigeria said Attahiru’s death was a “tremendous loss to Nigeria” on Twitter, adding: “We join the Nigerians in the tragic loss of life as a result of today’s plane crash.”
The Nigerian military has been fighting Boko Haram in the northeast since 2009, in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced about two million.
Attahiru died reports were created Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau was seriously injured or possibly killed after clashes with a rival faction.
The army chief was once responsible for directing the northeastern attack on Shekau fighters in the northeast in 2017.
Local intelligence sources reported that Shekau was seriously injured this week in an attack on his stronghold in the Sambisa forest in the northeastern state of Borno in the ISIL-linked West African Province (ISWAP). Sources said Shekau was injured when he tried to avoid capture.
Boko Haram leaders have reportedly been killed several times since the conflict began, only to reappear later.
The Nigerian military said it was still investigating the reports and neither ISWAP nor Boko Haram had made any statement about the Sambisa bombing or the location of Shekau.
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