Army confirms IED kills 1 officer, 3 soldiers in Borno

The Nigerian Army has confirmed that it lost an officer and three soldiers, in Borno State, on Thursday, when their patrol vehicle encountered IED buried on the road between Kangarwa and Alagarno village.

Army spokesman, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, confirmed the incident in a statement on Friday, while giving 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 enroute 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)