Nigeria: Combat Between Boko Haram and Nigerian Army Left Fifteen Dead
November 26, 2024 Hour: 8:56 pm
The army recovered weapons and ammunition from the attackers, including AK-47 rifles, portable anti-tank rocket launchers, RPGs and anti-tank guns.
At least three Nigerian soldiers and twelve members of the jihadist group Boko Haram were killed on Monday after the army tried to repel an attack in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state, military sources reported Tuesday.
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“In the early hours of 25 November, an unconfirmed number of terrorists, mounted on armed trucks and motorcycles, launched an attack against the troops of the 101st Special Forces Battalion of Operation ‘Hadi Kai’ in the city of Kukawa (in the state of Borno).”, declared the Defense Headquarters in a statement.
According to the report, the attackers “attempted to penetrate the camp using an improvised explosive device (IED)”.
But “the troops, in a coordinated and determined response, faced the terrorists with overwhelming firepower, reinforced by the support of the air component and the command of unmanned aerial vehicles of the army”.
During the clash, twelve jihadists were neutralized and “many others” fled with gunshot wounds, while three soldiers also died.
In addition, the army recovered weapons and ammunition from the attackers, including AK-47 rifles, portable anti-tank rocket launchers, RPGs and anti-tank guns.
“Efforts to clear the area are ongoing with house-to-house searches to ensure it is safe,” the Armed Forces stressed, which were steadfast in their commitment to “eliminate the remnants of jihadists” in the north-east of the country.
The incident comes just one week after the army announced that five other soldiers had been killed following a raid by jihadists from the West African State of the Islamic State (ISWAP) in a military camp in Gubio, also in the northeast.
This area of Nigeria has been the target of attacks by Boko Haram since 2009, a violence that intensified from 2016 with the appearance of its split, the ISWAP.
Both groups seek to impose an Islamic-court state in the country, with a Muslim majority in the north and a predominantly Christian one in the south.
Boko Haram and ISWAP have killed more than 35,000 people and caused some 2.7 million internally displaced, mostly in Nigeria but also in neighbouring countries such as Cameroon, Chad and Niger, according to government and UN data.
Autor: OSG
Fuente: EFE-Africanews
