The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks on Nigerian Soldiers last weekend, saying it killed 118 people in its West Africa Province.
The Islamic terrorist claimed the attacks in a video posted online praising its affiliates in West Africa, the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP) an offshoot of Boko haram.
The terrorist group said its forces carried out five attacks in Nigeria and Chad between November 15 and 21 which included a series of attacks on military bases in Nigeria’s northeast.
The attacks had gone largely ignored until soldiers who escaped the carnage leaked details to the Nigerian Public.
The attacks caused a lot of outrage in the Nigerian public as reports suggested that more than 100 soldiers lost their lives due to lack of communication, protection and air support; they were also outnumbered and outgunned.
The claim was also confirmed by SITE, an intelligence gathering Group that monitors Jihadist activities around the world.
Official sources had pegged the number of dead at 44 while confirming the attacks on the military bases at Metele and a few other places in the Northeast.
Asides from the Nigerian Senate that adjourned plenary in honour of the dead soldiers which they had perceived stood at 44, the Nigerian government has been largely silent on the attacks, focusing instead on campaigns for the 2019 general elections to the outrage of the Nigerian Public.
According to a soldier who escaped the carnage at Metele and spoke on condition of anonymity;
“The truth is we lost more than 100 men because we were quickly routed. We were outgunned, so we tried to fight. We realised it was unrealistic so we decided to leave.
Most of the soldiers were killed as the trucks they were in tried to crash through a perimeter fence at the base but got stuck. Senior officers were among the dead. Even a search team that came to find the bodies of fallen soldiers on Tuesday was attacked.”