Troops of the Nigerian military have killed scores of ISWAP/ Boko Haram terrorists in a fierce battle in the axis of Banki in Bama local government area of Borno State.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the Boko Haram terrorists met their waterloo when the troops of 151 Task Force Battalion in a joint Operation with Civilian Joint Task attached to Operation Hadin Kai stormed their hideout at Gauri village on October 30.
This is even as the troops reportedly lost two soldiers while five others sustained various degrees of injuries in the encounter.
According to an intelligence report obtained from top military sources by Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency expert and security analyst in the Lake Chad, which was made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday in Maiduguri, the troops intercepted and killed some of the Boko Haram insurgents that hide in the isolated village.
The intelligence sources said that the forest was a hideout for the terrorists who prepared to attack nearby troops positions and some terrorists were also using the location to conceal rustled livestock.
He explained that the troops’ fighting patrol operations paid off as the terrorists were taken unaware.
“More than 15 of them were instantly killed,” said the sources, who took part in the battle.
He said, “The terrorists were forced to withdrew with a large number of them suffering fatal injuries leaving behind several livestock rustled from people.”
He, however, said that the terrorists who escaped immediately called for reinforcement as the gallant troops continued to engage them from different routes.
“At about one and half hours, the terrorists deployed additional men on motorcycles. They were screaming Allahu Akhbar (God is great), but the troops swiftly engaged them and overwhelmed them after a heavy gun battle.
“We killed additional seven of them in the battle that ensued and unfortunately, we lost two of our gallant military personnel and five others wounded while pursuing the fleeing remnants of the terrorists after the encounter,” he said.
The terrorists had suffered devastating loss of its foot soldiers in an intelligence-led aerial and ground coordinated operation launched by the troops of Operation Hadin Kai on Friday, October 27, in the axis of Darajamal and Mayenti.
