Forty-six soldiers have been killed in one of Nigeria's worst road accidents in recent years, the army said Thursday, prompting the country's president to return home early from a trip abroad.
President Umaru Yar'Adua cut short his visit to Tanzania after a collision between a petrol tanker and an army convoy led to the deaths of the soldiers, who had just returned from an African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur.
The troops were in a convoy of seven vehicles returning to their unit in Monguno in northeastern Nigeria from the capital Abuja on Wednesday when the accident happened, a statement from the army chief of staff said.
One of the vehicles collided with an oncoming petrol tanker, Lieutenant General Luka Yussuf said in the statement. The 46 dead included an army captain.
Five soldiers were hospitalised with serious injuries, he said, adding that the dead would be given a state burial in Abuja on Friday with flags flown at half-mast in all military establishments.
The troops had been deployed as part of a joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in western Sudan's Darfur region. Last September, seven Nigerian soldiers were among 10 African Union troops killed by rebel forces in Darfur.
"The president, who will be cutting short his trip to Arusha, Tanzania where he has been attending the African Union's Committee of 12 meeting, to return home early tomorrow (Friday), prayed for the peaceful repose of their brave souls," said a statement from Yar'Adua's office.
The accidental death of the soldiers whilst on national service was an immense loss to the country, his statement said.
