BEVERLY HILLS, CA, December 20, (THEWILL) – An early morning attack by Boko Haram insurgents to overrun the 202 Tank Battalion in Bama, 78 kilometres southeast of Maiduguri, Borno State, on Friday, has backfired.
The insurgents, who stormed the barrack with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol-bombs, through the Cameroonian border road of Gulumba, in an operation lasting several minutes, lost many of their gunmen to an ambush by the military .
Bama residents disclosed that the superior fire power from a military fighter jet deployed to dislodge the insurgents sent the terrorists scampering for cover, losing several gunmen in the bombardment that also claimed the lives of three civilians.
A transporter from Maiduguri, Garba Jibrin, who had to make a detour at Konduga, said he saw troops and their patrol vehicles driving towards the barracks in the morning.
“I was already at Konduga town, when a Good Samaritan told me that the Maiduguri-Bama road is not safe to travel. When I asked further, he told me that, Boko Haram gunmen came to attack the Army Barrack in Bama, but they were ambushed and killed by the soldiers in an aerial bombardment of the insurgents.
“Based on what I was told about the Friday dawn barrack attacks; the insurgents arrived the area on Thursday afternoon and settled to strategise on Gulumba road. One of the residents of Bama, however went and informed the military about the presence of suspected insurgents on the road. This made the soldiers to ambush the insurgents, before they could attack the barrack as they had done in Maiduguri on December 2 when they destroyed five fighter jets and helicopters at the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) base,” he said.
The acting spokesman of 7 Division of Nigerian Army, Capt. Aliyu Danja, who confirmed the incident on Friday, said an attempted attack on a barrack in Bama by suspected Boko Haram terror suspects was repelled and crushed.
“The soldiers were able to kill several members of the Islamist sect,” he said, adding that several arms and vehicles allegedly used in the attacks were also destroyed, in the aerial bombardments of insurgents.
However, he did not give casualty figures.
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