80 terrorists crushed by troops in Borno night bombing
By Victor Idajili
No fewer than eighty insurgents – including three high-profile commanders – were neutralised by ground troops with air support from the NAF.
The battle, according to Operation Hadin Kai spokesman Lt. Col. Sani Uba, took place at Mallam Fatori in Abadam Local Government Area.
Lt. Col. Uba gave the names of the killed commanders as Abdulrahman Gobara, Mallam Ba Yuram and Abou Ayyuba.
Other insurgents eliminated included Zarkawi, Ba Bunu, Rawa Fannami, Abowor Suwurti, Bulama Mil, Abu Aisha, Suleimana, Abu Rijal, Abu Ali, Abba Gana Kawiyya and Ahmodu Hirasama.
The Mallam Fatori operation came hours before the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lt. Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, and Chief of Army Staff (CAS), Maj.-Gen. Waidi Shuaibu, joined Inspector-General of Police Tunde Disu in Maiduguri, in compliance with the directive of Bola Ahmed Tinubu for security chiefs to relocate to the state after Monday’s multiple suicide attacks, which left 23 persons dead and 108 injured.
The Operation Hadin Kai spokesman said in a statement that the terrorists advanced on foot, supported by drones, from the Duguri general area of Mallam Fatori to infiltrate the 68 Battalion’s main defensive position but were repelled at about 12:50 a.m.
He said the troops anticipated the attack and launched a coordinated “offensive-defensive operation” to decisively defeat the attackers.
He said: “Through disciplined fire control, coordinated manoeuvre and superior tactical execution, the attackers were engaged, disrupted and routed in disarray, with no fewer than 80 terrorists neutralised during the engagement.
“Additionally, the firefight was reinforced by precision close air support from the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai, complemented by rapid strike passes from allied Nigerien air assets, which compounded the pressure on the fleeing insurgents.”
He added that troops recovered 52 AK-47 rifles, eight PKT machine guns, seven RPG tubes and five general-purpose machine guns (GPMGs).
Over 3,000 rounds of assorted 7.62mm ammunition, 21 RPG bombs, nine locally fabricated Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), magazines, communication radios and components of armed drones were also recovered.
Lt. Col. Uba said that despite the intensity of the attack, the military recorded minimal casualties, with four soldiers wounded.
He added: “While follow-on battle damage assessment of air interdictions remains ongoing, the elimination of these commanders and fighters represents a severe disruption to the terrorist command structure and operational capability within the axis.”
Meanwhile, NAF airstrikes on Tuesday destroyed terrorist hideouts in Abirma and the southern axis of the Lake Chad region in Borno State.
NAF spokesman Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame said surveillance revealed insurgents’ movements around concealed structures hidden under dense vegetation, a tactic used to evade detection.
“Following positive target identification and rigorous verification in line with established procedures, NAF air assets executed precision strikes on the identified locations,” he said.
“The targets were engaged with precision munitions, destroying multiple terrorist structures and disruption of their activities.
“Preliminary battle damage assessment indicates that the strikes significantly degraded the terrorists’ capacity to use the location as a staging ground for attacks across the Lake Chad Basin.”
