Nigeria military kills 24 jihadists, loses 7 soldiers

Summary

• The terrorists attempted to attack a military base in Rann on Friday, engaging the military in a fierce gun battle.
• An intelligence-led aerial and ground coordinated operation on December 2, 2021 identified the ‘acclaimed’ ISWAP headquarters, housing hundreds of the sect’s commanders, fighters and their armoury.
• The strikes were executed after a surveillance and reconnaissance mission had shown a gathering of terrorists.
  

Abuja,   

In an intense fighting between Nigerian army and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters in Rann, North East Borno State, left seven government soldiers and 24 jihadists dead.  

The terrorists attempted to attack a military base in Rann on Friday, engaging the military in a fierce gun battle. However, the soldiers repelled terrorists in an operation that lasted more than two hours.

“At the last count this (Friday) morning, we recovered 24 of their bodies, while the rest fled with gun injuries. “We also recovered huge sophisticated weapons apart from their gun trucks that were completely destroyed by airstrikes,” the military reported.

The military reported it had deployed the latest acquired Super Tucano fighter jets and destroyed the armoury and training bases of ISWAP terrorists in the Lake Chad Basin.

The terrorists were also killed during multiple bombardments carried out by the Air Task Force of Operation Hadin Kai at Kayowa, Tumbum Jaki and Tumbun Akawu.

An intelligence-led aerial and ground coordinated operation on December 2, 2021 identified the ‘acclaimed’ ISWAP headquarters, housing hundreds of the sect’s commanders, fighters and their armoury.

Airstrikes

The strikes were executed after a surveillance and reconnaissance mission had shown a gathering of terrorists.

The army said that the locations had earlier been reported by intelligence sources as places where the IED factory is located. During the strike, explosions were observed, confirming that there were bomb-making materials at the location.

“An early damage assessment confirmed the elimination of several high-ranking insurgents’ commanders and their foot soldiers, in the operation.”

Meanwhile, the command style of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya, has up-scaled army operations, the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, has reported.

Boko Haram

During a briefing on the COAS Annual Conference 2021 on Friday, Gen. Nwachukwu said that the military had since May 28, 2021 encapsulated its command philosophy anchored on four cardinal pillars which included professionalism, readiness, administration and cooperation.

He said that the COAS immediately swung into action with his maiden operational visit to Headquarters Operation Hadin Kai, where he charged troops to sustain the onslaught against Boko Haram/Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists.

He said the motivation had up-scaled the operational disposition of troops that resulted in the neutralisation of high profile terrorist commanders and their foot soldiers.

He added that the army was recruiting over 3,000 soldiers to enhance its manpower capacity with a view to increase its fighting capability.


SOURCE: Nii Otu Dadeban Ankrah