• Over 50 terrorists neutralized
• 2 captains, 4 soldiers killed
From John Adams Minna
Terrorists suspected to be members of the dreaded Boko Haram on Thursday killed two captains of the Nigerian Army and four other soldiers during a gun battle in Karaga village, Bassa ward in Shiroro local government area of Niger State.
Over 50 of the terrorists were equally neutralized by the military, which could not get needed air support when the attack was going on at about 4:00p.m on Thursday.
Although it was gathered that two fighter jets arrived during the battle and hovered around, their impact was not felt as the ground troops engaged the over 100 terrorists in a fierce gun duel that lasted for hours.
The terrorists, it was gathered, divided themselves into three groups, but some of the soldiers in Armoured Personnel Carriers were said to have successfully neutralized one of the groups, numbering over 50.
The two Captains killed are from Allawa Camp and Erena Camp who had led their soldiers to the battle field after they had received a distressed call from the Karaga community.
A source close to Erena community told our correspondent that the terrorists out-numbered the soldiers hence the number of casualty, but added however, that the soldiers fought the terrorists to a standstill until the two captains were gunned down before making a retreat.
“The soldiers tried their best through the help of the Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC). They killed a number of the terrorists, but they were over-powered because the terrorists were more in numbers.
“Unfortunately, the plane that came could not make any impact if not they would have finished all the terrorists. It was a face-to-face battle in the afternoon around 4:00p.m.
“The two Captains that were killed, one is from Allawa and another one is from Erena camp. Some members of the local vigilantes were also killed, but the number of the terrorists killed were more than the soldiers,” the local source said.
It could be recalled that the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents had hoisted their flag in Kaore in Shiroro local government since 2020, which was confirmed by the immediate past governor of the state, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, who also warned then that if nothing was done about it, the terrorists would use the state as a base to lunch attack on the nation’s capital, Abuja.
The Commissioner for Home Land Security, Maj- General Garba Abdullahi Mohammed could not be reached for his comment on this development as all his mobile phones were not going through.
However, the state police command is yet to issue any statement on this latest attack.
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