attacked Bama, a troubled spot in Nigeria's northeast on
Wednesday, sparking a battle with soldiers that killed a large
number of insurgents, the military said.
Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade said that the early
morning attack in the town of Bama may have also included
multiple suicide blasts.
Bama is about 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Maiduguri, the
capital of Borno state, which is the stronghold of the Islamist
rebels who have killed thousands during a four-and-half year
insurgency.
"The attackers came from various locations," Olukolade said.
"We believe that there were suicide bombers among them.
They used bombs during the operation (and) attacked one of
our tanks."
He said "many" of the attackers were killed when troops
repelled the raid, but could not offer a specific figure or
comment on casualties among civilians or the security forces.
The bloody clash came a day after presidential spokesman,
Dr. Doyin Okupe claimed the army was 'on top of the
situation' and could not be defeated by the rag-tag militants
of Boko Haram. His statement ran contrary to the submission
of Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state, who said the
Boko Haram militants appeared to better armed and better
motivated than Nigerian soldiers, on ground in his state.
The mobile phone network in Borno is patchy and calls to
Bama area residents were not going through on Wednesday,
to confirm today's development, AFP reported.
A police spokesman said details about the attack had been
difficult to obtain because of the poor phone network.
More than 200 people have been killed in 2014 in Borno
state alone.
In the village of Izghe on Saturday suspected Boko Haram
gunmen went door-to-door, dragging residents outside before
slaughtering them.
Borno's Governor Kashim Shettima said 106 people were
killed in Izghe and declared that the military cannot defeat
the insurgents unless more troops and military hardware are
deployed to the northeast immediately.
The region has been under a state of emergency since May,
when the military launched a major offensive to quash the
uprising, but the security forces have struggled to contain the
violence, which has affected both remote town and state
capitals.
Via: PM NEW
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