The troops of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) in conjunction with the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) have neutralised 47 terrorists including top Commanders of the Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, a Boko Haram faction.
In a major boost, the combined troops, supported by the 21 Army Armoured Brigade Bama, Borno State, stormed one of the deadliest camps of the insurgents in Gazuwa village in Bama LGA on June 12, 2022.
The camps, which was renamed by the terrorists as “Gazuwa or Markas” (Headquarters), and formerly known as Gabchari, Mantari and Mallum Masari, haboured more than 3,000 fighters and their families from the Abubakar Shekau faction.
According to an intelligence report by obtained Zagazola Makama, a Counter Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in the Lake Chad, made available to LEADERSHIP, the troops made contact with Boko Haram/ISWAP elements in the general area and engaged them in a fierce gun battle which lasted for more than three hours.
The sources said that the troops had met some resistance from the terrorists as they stormed out in their hundreds with motorcycles and various calibre of weapons and responded from different angles, but the troops engaged them in a swift battle, killing 47 of them and forcing others to fled.
According to the impeccable sources, however, two members of the Civilian Joint Task Force were killed during the encounter.
Additionally, on June 13, 2022, in continuation of its onslaught against the terror group, fighting troops were reinforced from the 21 Army Armoured Brigade in Bama. Their complementary efforts led to the dislodging and destruction of the terrorist enclaves.
The troops destroyed over 700 makeshift houses and shelters of the terrorists and recovered several motorcycles and weapons from them.
The sources explained that the unrelenting troops pursued them to thier hideouts and apprehended two other terrorists alive.
During their testimonies, they confessed that the camp was led by top commanders led by one Abu Ikilima among which three Khayds (Governors), three Munzul (Commanding Officer), and one Nakib (Commander) of the Boko Haram as well as several other fighters were nutrialised.
The captured terrorists disclosed that funeral prayers were held for the Mujahedeens and afterwards buried in shallow graves.
Gazuwa is now considered as the strongest caliphate of the Boko Haram terrorist group, camping fighters who escaped onslaught of the Nigerian Military under the Operation Desert Sanity I and II while others were dislodged from its rival faction, the Islamic State of the West African Province (ISWAP).
Other terrorists migrated from Mandara Mountain to join them after the killing of Ummate Ma, a terror kingpin. The terrorists from this camp had coordinated many attacks in Banki, Konduga, and Maiduguri to Monguno road in Borno State.
