Soldiers stop planned Boko Haram attack in Borno, kill 20 of them

Boko Haram gunmen returned late last night to Mafa and Ajiri villages in Borno State to attack the villagers but this time they met their match. Soldiers guarding the villages and neighbouring ones opened fire on the insurgents, killing at least 20 of them. But instead of retreating, eye witnesses said the Boko Haram members came in their hundreds and engaged the military men in a gun battle.

Fortunately the military men overpowered them, killed many of them and seized different calibers of machine guns and improvised explosive devices from them, this is according to the Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen Chris Olukolade. He said some soldiers, who were from the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri, were injured in the battle but no soldier was killed.

"Attempts by terrorists to attack Ajiri and Mafa as well as other communities in the outskirt of Maiduguri and Dikwa in Borno State towards the Cameroon borders, yesterday were foiled by the security forces. The ambush mounted by the terrorists to enable them unleash terror on the communities unchallenged, was also cleared by troops on reinforcement mission.

“Arms captured from the terrorists include various brands of machine guns and improvised explosive devices. Twenty insurgents died in the encounter, while our troops sustained varying degree of injuries.  Also, more camps were destroyed yesterday in encounters at various forests and mountain locations around Adamawa and Borno States,” Olukayode said.