Abuja: A court martial has sentenced 12 Nigerian soldiers fighting Islamic extremists to death by firing squad for mutiny and attempted murder of their commanding officer.
In a decision announced early Tuesday, a military tribunal found 12 soldiers guilty and five others innocent. All the accused denied the charges.
The soldiers accused their commanders of conspiring to kill fellow troopers after a convoy was ambushed May 13 on a road frequently attacked by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. They were driving from Chibok, the northeastern town from which more than 270 schoolgirls were kidnapped a month earlier.
When the soldiers' bodies were brought to northeastern Maiduguri city, the surviving soldiers revolted, throwing stones at their commanding officer and then shooting at him. The officer took refuge in an armored vehicle and was unharmed.