Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, said no soldier was killed. Photo credit/The Guardian
End of Year Boko Haram Attack Kills five soldiers, 30 missing in Yobe
About 24 hours to the end of the year, Islamic militant group, Boko Haram attacked a military base in Yobe State, North-East Nigeria. And when the dust settled, five soldiers were and about 30 more soldiers were missing, The Guardian reported.
But the army, however, denied it had any casualties in the Saturday night attack.
“Yes, there was an attack on our troops two days ago by Boko Haram terrorists in Kannama town. It was, however, repelled. Our soldiers are in hot pursuit of the fleeing insurgents,” Col. Kayode Ogunsanya, spokesman of 3 Division, Nigerian Army, in Damaturu, the state capital, told The Guardian.
However, The Guardian said a credible top security source offered that about five soldiers were found dead and evacuated to Maiduguri, adding that about 30 others were still missing.
An eyewitness, Bukar, said the attackers arrived in seven Toyota Hilux vans. “We thought they were soldiers because everything about them was like soldiers, their dressing, their vehicles, everything. They passed through the town but did not touch anybody. They went straight to the military base. Then we started hearing heavy gunshots,” he said.
In its bid to tackle insurgency more effectively, Nigeria’s military, recently removed Maj. General Ibrahim Attahiru, the commander leading the fight against Boko Haram in the North-East Nigeria.
He was the Theatre Commander of the Operation Lafiya Dole. Government has appointed a new Major General to head the military anti-insurgency operation in the North-East.
Attahiru had a deadline by Army Chief Gen Tukur Buratai, in July to deliver Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau dead or alive within 40 days.
The BBC writes that at least 20,000 people have been killed and thousands more abducted since Boko Haram launched its insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria in 2009.
“President Muhammadu Buhari took office in May 2015 with a pledge to beat back the militants.
About seven months later, he declared that Boko Haram had been “technically defeated” after the army recaptured most territory that had fallen to it.
However, Boko Haram has continued carrying out bomb and gun attacks in the north-east.
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