A soldier, whose identities could not be immediately ascertained, was assaulted and left wounded on Tuesday by some hoodlums led by a man identified simply as Gbedu in Iree, Osun State.

The cause of the disagreement between the soldier, who was dressed in military uniform at the time he was attacked, and the hoodlums was not known.

But in a video clip of the incident obtained by our correspondent, two suspected hoodlums, one of whom was identified as Gbedu, were seen beating the soldier around Poly Junction Area in Iree while people watched.

A shop owner at Poly Junction, who spoke oncondition of anonymity during an interview with our correspondent, said after the soldier had been assaulted and left in the pool of his blood, some of his colleagues arrived at the scene and took him away.

He said, “The incident happened today. I don’t know what happened between the hoodlums and the soldier but I saw them beating him. We were even begging the hoodlums to leave him. The hoodlums were led by Gbedu. He is a notorious thug in the town.

“They beat the soldier thoroughly and smashed his head. They later left him drenched in blood.

“Some soldiers came around few minutes after and took the wounded soldier away . But this evening, many soldiers came back and stayed at the Poly Junction for some hours. They later left without harassing anyone,” he said.

Soldiers in Osun were also said to have visited the area again, “stayed at the Poly Junction for some hours and left without harassing anyone”.

However, many residents are still scared the soldiers will come to retaliate and inflict pain on innocent persons.

When contacted, Kehinde Adeleke, the spokesman of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Osun state command, confirmed the beating but cannit explain what led to the attack. (The PUNCH)