On Wednesday in the evening, Boko Haram militants killed a colonel, a captain, four soldiers and a villager on Maiduguri-Damaturu Road near Jakana village in Borno State
Our correspondent reported that at about 6.30pm the terrorists ambushed some commercial vehicles along the highway near a military checkpoint and used them as a cover to open fire on the soldiers.
A villager was murdered in the shooting while two others were injured ; five soldiers were also killed at the checkpoint while attempting to repel the terrorist attack.
Military sources, who could not yet reveal the names of the captain and soldiers, said that a colonel was also killed, adding that the soldiers were attached to the 29 Benisheik Task Force Brigade under the 7th Division, Maiduguri.
It is reported that the corpses of the said colonel, captain and soldiers were deposited in the morgue of the medical facility of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri.
A military source said, “There were commercial cars on the highway on Wednesday during the attack. During the attack, a Regimental Sergeant Major, who was on his way to Maiduguri, was intercepted and killed.
“Actually, some soldiers who were on duty at a checkpoint were also attacked by the terrorists, bombed their formation and murdered some of them.
“It was in Jakana. The RSM was on leave and in a casual dress he was just coming. He wasn’t in uniform. He was coming back to Maiduguri. Some commercial cars were attacked by the insurgents. They even burned a Toyota Hilux.
“They didn’t know they killed officers because they were not in uniform. The Commanding General Officer (Maj Gen Abdulmalik Biu) was there (Jakana) for about three hours on Thursday.
“A hospital guard confirmed that he had taken injured villagers to his medical facility and on Thursday one of them died. The village was not attacked by the insurgents. Our formation was attacked by them. But three villagers were injured during the attack and one of them died on Thursday.”
Col Sagir Musa, the acting Director, Army Public Relations, could not be reached for comments as his line rang out.
As of press time, a text message sent to his line had yet to be answered.
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