The Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, has said
some Boko Haram insurgents were killed by troops during a cordon and
search operation along Djimillo-Damaturu, Yobe State on Friday.
Olukolade said the troops had a fierce encounter with the terrorists
when their hideout was discovered by soldiers near a market.
According to him the soldiers killed an unspecified number of the
insurgents and recovered some machine guns and rifles from them.
He added that some of the terrorists were believed to have been killed
in a fire that gutted the house which they used as their base.
Olukolade said a soldier was killed in the fight with the terrorists
while another who had gunshot wounds was undergoing treatment
The Defence spokesman also said the troops had an encounter with some
terrorists who were in the process of blowing up a bridge to halt the
military operation in Gulak, the headquarters of the Madagali Local
Government Area of Adamawa State.
The troops, he said, also recovered some arms and ammunition from them,
adding that flags hoisted by the terrorists were being dismantled by the
troops in the operational area.
Meanwhile, an intelligence source said on Saturday that military
operations were going on in various communities in the three states
under emergency rule.
The source stated that the military had recovered over 30 communities in
12 local government areas in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
Olukolade had said in a statement on Friday that troops liberated Bara,
the headquarters of Gulani Local Government area of Yobe and Gulak, the
headquarters of the Madagali.
He stated also that the troops also recaptured other towns such as
Shikah, Fikayel, Tetebah, Buza, Kamla and Bumsa, during the two-day
operation.
In a related development, a former United States ambassador to Nigeria,
Mr. John Campbell, has said Boko Haram’s loss of some of its captured
territories to the Nigerian troops will not prevent it from carrying out
violent attacks against government facilities and innocent people.
Though the Islamist insurgents still have swaths of lands in the
North-East under their control, the Nigerian military has been able to
drive out the terrorists from more than 10 communities including Mubi,
Gamboru-Ngala, Hong, Monguno, Baga and Gombi.
Campbell made this known in an article he wrote for the US-based Council on Foreign Relations.
Addressing a news conference in Abuja on Thursday, the Director General
of the National Information Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, had said the army
was in full control of the recovered territories in Borno and Adamawa
states.
But according to Campbell, beyond the recovered territories, “there
appears to have been little change in the areas where Boko Haram
operates.“What is the significance of the Nigerian military’s
reoccupation of the three towns? Towns in North-East Nigeria appear to
change hands frequently. Unlike ISIS in Syria and Iraq, where a major
goal is the permanent occupation and governance of territory, Boko Haram
appears to be highly fluid. Hence, Boko Haram does not need to hold
territory to be effective. Boko Haram is also adept at melting back into
the countryside when confronted by superior forces.”
In a related development, the US Senate voted unanimously to condemn the
vicious attacks perpetrated by Boko Haram against innocent civilians,
especially women and children, and called on President Goodluck
Jonathan’s administration to ensure that Nigeria’s upcoming general
elections on March 28 and April 11 are safe, credible, and transparent.
The resolution was introduced by Senator Robert Menendez.
The US Senate stated its support to bring an end to violence perpetrated
by the Islamist insurgents, urging the Nigerian government to conduct
transparent, peaceful, and credible elections.
No comments:
Post a Comment