The Nigerian Army has lost close to 30 soldiers attached to the 25 Task Force Brigade, Damboa in Borno in an ambush laid by members of the Boko Haram terrorist group.
A social media user known simply as “Ayodeji” revealed on his Twitter handle @spankit17 that he lost a brother in the attack which occurred on Tuesday along the Maiduguri-Damboa road while they were returning from a clearance operation.
However, the army media office has put the number of casualties recorded by the military at 2 while revealing that more 17 members of the terrorist group lost their lives.
John Enenche, coordinator of defence media operations, said the troops in conjunction with elements of sector 2 special forces overran the insurgents’ ambush team.
“In the aftermath of the encounter, 17 Boko Haram/Islamic State’s West Africa Province 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,” he said.
“Regrettably, two valiant soldiers paid the supreme price while four others were wounded in action. However, the wounded in action soldiers have been evacuated to a military medical facility and currently responding positively to treatment.”
The Boko Haram war in the North East has claimed tens of thousands of lives and caused the displacement of more than one million people over the last decade.
