The Nigerian Army has denied the report on the killing of 30 soldiers during a battle with suspected Boko Haram terrorists in Borno State.
The report carried by an international news agency, Agence France Presse, AFP, had claimed that the insurgents killed about 30 soldiers when they attacked their base in Zari town, Guzamali Local Government Area of the state.
The media report, which quoted military sources, read:
”At least 30 Nigerian soldiers were killed in combat with Boko Haram jihadists who overran a military base in the northeast near the border with Niger.“Scores of jihadists in trucks stormed the base at Zari village, in northern Borno State, late Thursday, and briefly seized it after a fierce battle in which 30 soldiers were killed.
According to Vanguard, the spokesman for Theatre Command, Operation Lafiya Dole, Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, while confirming the attack, denied that the Army suffered casualties.
According Colonel Nwachukwu, contrary to the report, several of the terrorists were killed by the military troops just as he said the terrorists’ equipment were captured.
He said:
“That information is not correct. It’s true that we had an encounter with Boko Haram at a location called Zari. The Boko Haram came to attack that community, and our troops deployed few kilometres away from the location, countered the attack.“The ground troops were supported by the Air Task Force, and several Boko Haram Terrorists were killed, and we also destroyed many of their equipment, weapons. “On our side, I’m yet to receive casualty figure on my desk, if there was any. So, I cannot confirm that we had (any) and I think it’s very untrue for anyone to (say we had that casualty figure).”
