17 Boko Haram/Islamic State West African Province terrorists and their collaborators have been killed by Nigerian troops while on clearance operations on Damboa-Maiduguri road in Borno State.
The soldiers of 25 Task Force Brigade deployed in Damboa in conjunction with elements of Sector 2 Special Forces reportedly made contact with a Boko Haram ambush team along their axis of advance on Tuesday.
According to a statement on Wednesday by the Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. John Enenche, the troops outflanked and engaged the criminals with overwhelming firepower forcing them to withdraw in disarray.
“In the aftermath of the encounter, 17 Boko Haram/ISWAP criminals were neutralized as several others were believed to have narrowly escaped with varying degrees of gunshot wounds while a cache of arms and ammunition were equally captured by the gallant troops.
“Regrettably, two valiant soldiers paid the supreme price while four others were wounded in action,” according to the statement titled, ‘Troops of Operation Lafiya Dole obliterate Boko Haram/ISWAP in a counter-ambush operation along Damboa-Maiduguri road,’ dated July 8, 2020.
The Defence headquarters said the wounded soldiers had been evacuated to a military medical facility and were currently responding to treatment.
Meanwhile, the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole had been directed to immediately deploy a Special Forces Battalion to reinforce and dominate the Damboa-Bulabulin-Maiduguri axis to completely deny the terrorists any chance of escape during the final assault against them.
In another development, the troops have also inflicted heavy casualties on the terrorists during an attempted attack on Gubio town in Borno on Tuesday.
Enenche said the operation was a combined effort of the land and air forces “who overpowered the terrorists with their superior firepower.”
He said that a Nigerian Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance aircraft and fighter jets were scrambled to the location to engage the terrorists.
According to him, the ISR aircraft spotted the terrorists in their gun trucks and vectored the jets to engage them, neutralizing one of the gun trucks and its occupants.
He said, “The ISR aircraft continued to provide situational awareness as the ground troops engaged the terrorists on the ground, inflicting further casualties on the terrorists.
“Several terrorists were neutralised and one gun truck belonging to the criminals was destroyed during the encounter.”
The Military High Command commended the troops and urged them to intensify their offensives against the terrorists and all other enemies of the country in the North-East.
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