Abuja — The military is yet to identify the soldier who went on a killing spree in Toro area of Bauchi state weekend. The soldier shot his superior officer and four villagers in Magama Gumau and escaped from the scene by abducting a woman at gunpoint and stealing her car, traumatized villagers say.

The killings happened moments after a truck crashed into the village market killing two people, including a pregnant woman. Villagers say the soldier shot a man after he ordered villagers to move the crashed truck so the soldiers could pass on the road.

After the soldier escaped, a mob of villagers killed the wounded officer and burnt the pickup truck the soldiers were travelling in. The driver of a truck conveying grains lost control and ploughed into a busy market. The front of the truck was badly damaged when it hit another vehicle and caused traffic jam on the Bauchi - Jos road.

Mallam Adamu Pate, an eyewitness, said: "That was the beginning of the trouble when the accident occured, everybody was in sympathy with the driver because he was not on high speed. He just lost control of the vehicle and in the process, two people were hit and died instantly. These include a pregnant woman who was crossing the road with her two children. "We haven't seen the two children, but the woman was pulled out from under the truck. Then there was a heavy traffic build up and motorists and other road users found it difficult to pass while the villagers had to create an alternative road". Mallam Pate explained that in the midst of that confusion, a Mitsubishi pick-up van conveying soldiers on patrol came and demanded that they be allowed to pass.

He said: "by that time, people had off-loaded the goods in the truck on the road to ease towing. I could remember one man asking the soldiers to be considerate, but I don't know what went wrong when one of the soldiers opened fire on the populace killing a middle aged man named Habu Dan Fari," whom he said died instantly.

The shooting of Dan Fari was done despite a warning from the patrol team leader to the trigger happy soldier not to display his skills on helpless people. The warning was not heeded and the team leader in an apparent move to disarm the soldier, got himself shot while the soldier escaped by shooting randomly hitting three people with stray bullets. The trigger-happy soldier was said to have escaped after forcing a lady at gun point to drive him out to safety.

The villagers, it was learnt, reacted by killing the injured soldier and burning their truck, while the victims were carried to the Khadijat Memorial clinic at Magama Gumau where two died and the other victim taken to the University of Jos Teaching Hospital. The Bauchi state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ibiyinka Kayode, along with the Commander, 33 Field Artillery Brigade, Bauchi, visited the scene but have made no statements on the incident. Mr. Umar Abdullahi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police and the spokesman for the Bauchi state police command, when contacted by our correspondent, said he does not have facts on the incident.