Nigerian army chief dies in air force plane crash
Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru is killed in plane crash near northern Kaduna airport, official says.
Chief of Army Staff Major General Ibrahim Attahiru is seen at the theatre command operations Lafiya Dole headquarters in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on January 31, 2021.
Nigeria's top-ranking army commander General Ibrahim Attahiru has been killed after his plane crashed in the country's north, an air force spokesman said.
Attahiru was killed when the aircraft crashed in northern Kaduna state, an air force official confirmed to AFP news agency on Friday.
According to Anadolu Agency, at least eight people were killed in the crash.
Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, the spokesman of the Nigerian Air Force, in a tweet confirmed the incident but did not give details about the casualties.
"An air crash involving a X40NigAirForce aircraft occurred this evening near the Kaduna International Airport," he announced.
He said the immediate cause of the crash has not yet been ascertained.
Third crash in three months
Chief of Army Staff Attahiru was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in January in a shakeup of the top military command to better fight surging violence and a more than decade-long militant insurgency.
It was the third air force plane crash in three months.
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.