A total of 41 Boko Haram insurgents and two soldiers have died after troops of Operation Lafiya Doyle thwarted the terrorists in Monguno, Borno State.
According to a statement published on the official Nigerian Army Facebook page on Sunday, the encounter between the troops and insurgent occurred on Saturday.
The army explained that the terrorists attempted to run over Monguno town, noting that the insurgents retreated due to the superior firepower of the troops.
Several weapons were recovered from the terrorists, and soldiers injured during the clash are currently receiving treatment, the statement added.
The statement read: “The criminal insurgents attempted to lay siege on the community as well as the troops’ location with a number of gun trucks and foot soldiers but in a swift reaction, the gallant troops mobilized, enveloped and choked the criminals with superior firepower, forcing them to withdraw in disarray amidst heavy casualty on both their men and equipment. The unrelenting troops immediately pursued the criminals along their withdrawal route in order to further exploit the huge initial success recorded.
“During the exploitation exercise, the troops recovered 41 bodies of the insurgents while many more are believed to have escaped with serious injuries.
“Additionally, the gallant troops captured 10 AK 47 Rifles, 2 Rocket Propelled Gun 7 tubes, 8 Rocket-propelled Gun 7 bombs, one General Purpose Machine Gun, 2 PKT Machine Guns, one Dane gun, one SPG 9 Gun and one Dushka Machine Gun. Others items captured from the criminal insurgents include 2 Anti- Aircraft Guns, one Anti-Aircraft Gun barrel, 4 SPG 9 bombs, one Hand Grenade, one Tool Box, 2 transistor radios, 49 rounds of Anti-Aircraft Gun ammuntion, 386 rounds of 7.62mm NATO ammunition and 7 Gun Trucks from the defeated Boko Haram criminals.
“Regrettably, 2 gallant soldiers paid the supreme price while 3 others were wounded in action. The Wounded In Action soldiers have been evacuated to a military medical facility and are positively responding to treatment.”
The statement added that the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai, commended the troops for their resilience and patriotism in crushing the remnants of Boko Haram/Islamic State’s West Africa Province criminals and urged them to maintain the tempo against the criminals.
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