Army says 23 soldiers killed by militia

Nigerian army authorities have confirmed that 23 soldiers taken hostage last week by a local militia while on a mission to end communal fighting between Jukun and Tivs ethnic communities in the central region of Taraba State, eastern Nigeria, were killed.

A statement released by the Army Headquarters in the capital, Abuja, which named the dead soldiers, also said that investigations have begun into the circumstances of their death to determine if they went beyond their briefs while on the mission.

The Taraba State Police Commissioner, Njongor Njom, said on Friday that 16 mutilated bodies of the soldiers were recovered within the premises of a primary school in the Tiv stronghold of Zaki Biam. He described the situation in the area as one of "total anarchy".

Troop reinforcements have been sent into the area to hunt down
the killers and impose some order in the region for long wracked by
inter-ethnic violence.

Njom said clashes were still being reported in a number of communities in the Wukari local government. The situation, he said, had created "massive refugee camps" in towns such as Dan Anacha and Tella on the Jalingo-Wukari highway.