Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

REPORT | Boko Haram Destroys Nigerian Military Base, 107 Soldiers Still Missing

Boko Haram destroyed a Nigerian military base as soldiers fled and only self-defense fighters prevented the insurgents from retaking a northeastern town, residents said Monday.

The civilian fighters held Gulak town after soldiers ran away Sunday night until the military sent reinforcements who fought off the extremists, former council chairman James Ularamu told The Associated Press.

The military base was burned down, said Ularamu.

Sunday night’s attack came as a military intelligence officer confirmed that 107 soldiers remain missing nearly two weeks after a Nov. 19 battle. The attackers drove off with an army T-72 tank and dozens of new camouflage uniforms, according to the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on the issue.

Nigeria’s military has denied dozens of soldiers are missing.

Premium Times newspaper first reported the soldiers from the 157 Battalion, including their commanding officer, were missing in action along with the tank, three artillery guns and eight trucks including one carrying 60,000 rounds of ammunition.

The military has reported that it destroyed dozens of Boko Haram camps and freed more than 1,000 kidnap victims in recent weeks. But Boko Haram has stepped up the tempo and range of its attacks, with raids and suicide bombings in the past week in Niger, Cameroon and northern Nigeria.

Early Sunday, the extremists kidnapped dozens of girls and set ablaze hundreds of buildings in Bam in Borno state, said resident Mallam Ali.

The setbacks come as Nigeria’s government admitted it cannot crush by December the 6-year uprising that has killed some 20,000 people.

___

Faul reported from Lagos, Nigeria.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the battle in which dozens of soldiers went missing took place 11 days ago on Nov. 19 and not five days ago.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

 

 

__________

Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng

Copyright 2015 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Related

News

The Nigeria-China Strategic Partnership has said Nigeria would soon sign a deal on ‘Digital RMB’ with China to enable a direct conversion of naira...

News

Nigeria and the U.S. have expressed commitment to strengthening bilateral cooperation between them through various economic sectors. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf...

Sports

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will return to action later this week as they face Rwanda in a must-win match for their 2026 FIFA...

Columns

I have had cause to think about the safety of Abuja, especially the activity of bandits around Kaduna to Abuja highways. A couple of...

Copyright ©