Following the widespread coverage of recent Boko Haram attacks on the Nigerian Military, the Nigerian Army has confirmed an attack on a military base by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect in Yobe State, North-East Nigeria.
This was revealed in a statement by Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Texas Chukwu, on Monday in which he condemned reports that 600 soldiers went missing after Boko Haram attacked and overran the base on Sunday.
See Also: BOKO HARAM OVERRUNS ARMY BASE: HUNDREDS OF SOLDIERS STILL MISSING
The Director of Army Public relations also dismissed claims that about 100 of the troops that disappeared from the base in Jilli after the clash, reported in Geidam town a few hours later and many of them had lost their weapons when they reported.
He emphatically stated that the reports being circulated are totally misleading and far from the truth. The truth according to him was that there was an attack which was promptly repelled by the military with zero casualties on the side of the Nigerian Army.
“Contrary to the report, the Army wishes to state that, although the base was attacked by suspected Boko Haram insurgents, troops reorganised and successfully repelled the attack and normalcy has since returned to the area. Also, all the troops in the base were accounted for contrary to the report,” he said.
Texas Chukwu added that this latest episode was proof enough that the fight against Boko Haram was going well and the strategy employed by the security chiefs in charge of the region’s security was yielding positive results.
He further reiterated that it was the success of the troops against the Boko Haram Sect that has made some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who fled in the heat of the insurgency to return to their ancestral homes in the region.
The Army spokesman then advised members of the public, especially residents of the affected areas to go about their legitimate businesses without fear assuring them that the Nigerian Army would continue to protect the lives and property of citizens at all time
In an earlier report on the attack, Brigadier General Texas Chukwu had claimed ignorance of the attack, saying he had not been informed of such.
Independent security sources have however confirmed that twenty-four Nigerian soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice when their convoy was ambushed by Boko Haram fighters during a failed assault mission.
See Also: BOKO HARAM AMBUSH NIGERIAN SOLDIERS – KILL SCORES, CART AWAY EQUIPMENT
The source further confirmed that ten bodies of Nigerian Military personnel have been recovered from the nearby bushes after the ambush. The source claimed that the ambush was a massacre as the ambushed troops had no re-enforcement or Air support contrary to claims by the Nigerian Air force that jets were scrambled to the assistance of the beleaguered troops.