Agency Report
Despite denials by the military that soldiers were killed by Boko Haram when their base was overrun by Boko Haram terrorists in Zari village, Maiduguri, seventeen more bodies of soldiers have been recovered.
Last Thursday, 30 soldiers were killed at the village that has borders with Niger Republic.
Multiple sources say one officer and 16 soldiers’ bodies were recovered around the area of Mobbar Local Government Area, Borno State.
It was learnt that the bodies of the gallant soldiers were already in the state capital while troops from 145 Battalion are leading efforts in this regard.
Also, there are reports that scores of soldiers are still missing putting pressure on the search and rescue operations.
With the latest find, it brings to 46 the number of officers and soldiers that have now been confirmed killed in the attack.
Reacting to the report, 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.
Hear him: “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).”