The Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, has said that troops of the Nigerian Army and personnel of the Air Force have killed over 300 fighters of the Boko Haram sect.
Olukolade said in a statement on Wednesday that the insurgents were killed during a combined operation of the Air Force and ground forces put in place to liberate 11 communities captured by the Boko Haram sect.
According to him, the communities liberated by the troops are Monguno, Gabchari, Abba Jabari, Gajigana, Gajiram, Damakar, Kumaliwa, Bosso Wanti, Jeram and Kabrisungul.
He said that troops had commenced a cordon and search operation in the areas involved in the latest operation.
He stated further that some of the terrorists and their weapons were captured by the troops.
Olukolade also said that the military captured “five different types of armoured fighting vehicles, an anti-aircraft gun, about 50 cases of packed bombs and eight different types of machine guns, five rocket-propelled grenade, 49 boxes of various types and calibres of ammunition, as well as 300 motorcycles destroyed in the fighting.
He added that “a total of six Hilux vehicles including those mounted with anti-aircraft guns were also destroyed.’
The Defence spokesman said that two soldiers lost their lives while ten others were wounded in the encounter with the terrorists.
Olukolade said that various phases of highly coordinated combined operation involving the Air Force and ground forces were ongoing in the mission area within and outside the country.
Meanwhile, about 30 civilians were killed when an unidentified airplane dropped a bomb on a Nigerian border village, military sources based nearby in Niger said on Wednesday.
“We don’t know whose plane it was. We understand that the victims are residents who were gathered for a ceremony but who were mistaken for terrorists,” said a military source based in the town of Bosso in Niger.
He added, “Around 30 people perished.”
BY FIDELIS SORIWEI
