By Ado Oyeyemi
Suspected Boko Haram terrorists have attacked a military post in Mairari community, Guzamala Local Government Area of Borno State, with soldiers feared killed during a prolonged gun battle.
The attack reportedly occurred around midnight on Tuesday and lasted for more than two hours, according to local sources.
The Chairman of Guzamala Local Government Area, Umar Sheriff, confirmed the incident, saying the assailants targeted the military formation and that no civilian casualties had been reported.
Sheriff, who spoke on Wednesday, said he had yet to obtain reliable figures on the casualties because of the sensitive nature of the incident.
“I don’t have statistics regarding the casualties yet, because it’s not everything we are told. It’s a security matter. But I know that no civilian was killed,” he said.
The council chairman described the assault as unusually intense, noting that the community had not experienced an attack of such magnitude in recent times.
He, however, said the military had successfully repelled the assailants.
“They have never attacked as much as this time, but thank God, the military were able to repel them,” Sheriff added.
He said the situation had returned to calm and disclosed plans to visit the community on Thursday to assess the impact of the attack.
Meanwhile, local sources said there were casualties among the troops, although the reported figures could not be independently confirmed.
One source said there were rumours that seven soldiers had been killed but stressed that the information remained unverified.
Another source said the exchange of gunfire had caused tension in the community, adding that both the military and local forces had resisted the attackers.
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Efforts to obtain comments from the Acting Military Information Officer of the North-East Joint Task Force, Operation Hadin Kai, Captain Mohammed Goni, were unsuccessful as he neither answered calls nor returned them before press time.
