Massive #BokoHaram Attack Leaves 19 Nigerian Soldiers Wounded, Several Missing

Nigerian Army battles Boko Haram

At least 19 Nigerian soldiers and three civilians were wounded by Boko Haram on Thursday following an ambush that left several other soldiers missing, the Army said in a statement, a reminder that the war against the terrorists who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in March last year is far from over.

An Army spokesman, Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, said the attack occurred on Thursday morning when troops who had gone to conduct “clearance operations” against Boko Haram around Guro Gongon village and environs in Borno state were returning to their base.

“19 soldiers and 3 civilian JTF members were wounded in action while a few others were missing in action,” he said.

“The wounded have been evacuated and are responding to treatment, while a search and rescue party comprising of Special Forces personnel has since been dispatched to establish contact with the missing in action troops, some of whom, as at the time of filing this report, have started returning to their defensive location”.

He added: “It is pertinent to state that, no stone would be left unturned until every person involved in the operation has been accounted for”.

Boko Haram has killed more than 25,000 people in Nigeria since 2009 and displaced more than two million. At least 500, 000 children have been out of school for years and thousands of people kidnapped, including the Chibok girls remain missing.

President Muhammadu Buhari who declared victory against Boko Haram in December had said during his inaugural speech in 2015 that without freeing the Chibok girls, the war against Boko Haram would not be complete. And it is not.

Out of 276 missing girls, only one was found wandering on the fringes of the Sambisa forest this year. The rest have not been found.

A multinational task force made up of troops from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin, has been fighting the terrorists and has significantly reduced their power, but attacks on soldiers in Nigeria and Cameroon, show that Abubakar Shekau’s men remain a threat.