No
fewer than 70 persons, including 15 soldiers, died in the military
operations to track down the insurgents who carried out the last
Friday’s pre-dawn attacks on Mohammed Kur Barracks in Bama, Borno
State.
The remaining 55 comprised of 50 insurgents and five villagers.
The Director of Defence Information,
Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, who made this known in a statement on
Monday, added that 20 vehicles belonging to the insurgents were also
destroyed during the attack.
Olukolade said the vehicles were sighted during an air connoisseur exercise while they were about to escape to Cameroun.
He said that some of the insurgents were arrested while several others escaped with gunshot wounds.
Olukolade’s statement reads in part,
“The military operations to track insurgents who carried out the last
Friday pre-dawn attacks on Mohammed Kur Barracks, Bama, has led to the
destruction of over 20 vehicles conveying escaping terrorists.
“The vehicles were the ones used during
the attack on the barracks and were sighted through air surveillance as
the terrorists were making efforts to cross the borders back to their
haven in Cameroun.
“Although a good number of the
insurgents escaped with bullet wounds while some were arrested, over 50
of them died in the course of exchange of fire with ground troops in
the ongoing operations to apprehend fleeing terrorists.
“The military has lost 15 soldiers
mostly from the attack while some died during the pursuit. Five
civilians also died during the attack. Intensive cordon and search
operations is still ongoing to fish out the insurgents who might be
lurking around communities in the area.
“Families affected by the attacks have been relocated to other military locations.”
Meanwhile, a former Chief of Naval
Staff, Vice-Admiral Jubrila Ayinla (retd.), has cautioned Nigerian
leaders not to be deceptive while solving the country’s problems.
The ex-naval chief said this during the 90th anniversary of Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria in Lagos.
He said that one of the conditions
for Nigeria to survive beyond 2015 was for its leaders to find the
right solutions to the nation’s challenges.
Ayinla said, “Nigeria will survive
beyond 2015 as long as we tackle our problems. We know our problems but
it is left for us to acknowledge the problems and to face them squarely.
One of our problem is the preponderance of our population. Our
population is weighed down by poverty.
PUNCH NG
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