The Army has confirmed that it lost an officer and three
soldiers in Borno on Thursday when their patrol vehicle encountered IED buried
on the road between Kangarwa and Alagarno village.
The Army Spokesman, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, confirmed the
incident in a statement on Friday, while giving an update on troops’ clearance
operations in the North-East between Tuesday and Thursday.
He said three other soldiers sustained various degrees of
injuries, while the patrol vehicle was completely damaged.
Usman, however, said three suspected terrorists who planted
the explosive and hid themselves had been fished out and neutralised.
The army spokesman added that apart from clearance
operations, troops stationed at Banki in Borno rendered humanitarian assistance
to over 887 Nigerian refugees who returned from Cameroon since Tuesday.
He said the troops, also on Thursday, handed over Miss Jada
Hachaba, who was abducted by the terrorists to her mother at Gulak in Adamawa.
The army spokesman explained that Hachaba escaped from the
terrorists’ captivity, adding that she was handed over in the presence of the
District Head of Gulak.
At Buni Yadi in Yobe, Usman said that troops in the period
under review discovered a 122mm D30 unexploded ordinance inside an uncompleted
building at the Federal Low-Cost Housing Estate.
He said the Explosive Ordinance Team was drafted into the
scene to safely detonated the explosive.
Usman said that based on credible information, troops
arrested two suspected Boko Haram terrorists’ collaborators/informants;
Abubakar Ahmed, 23 and Aji Maina, 45, on Wednesday.
“Both were arrested at Garin Gada and Kanamma after
painstaking trailing.
“Abubakar Ahmed was arrested while trying to collect relief
materials for onward conveyance to Boko Haram terrorists, while Aji Maina was
arrested while on transit at Kanamma en route Gamari in Niger Republic,’’ he
said.
Similarly, Usman said that vigilant elements of 8 Division
Nigerian Army stationed at Kukawa in northern Borno intercepted two minors on
Thursday.
He named them as Abubakar Aji, 13 and Isah Mustapha, 12,
adding that they were on spying mission on troops’ location at Kukawa.
“On further interrogation, the minors claimed to have been
with Boko Haram terrorists in Kangarawa since 2014,’’ he said.
(NAN)
