Boko Haram insurgents on Friday night attacked a convoy of 30 Hilux vans carrying troops attached to the Military Command and Control Centre on Maiduguri – Damaturu Road. The attack reportedly occurred at a dangerous 25-kilometre stretch between Benisheik and Ngamdu around 9p.m as the troops were heading to Maiduguri as part of the relocation of the counter-insurgency centre from Abuja to the Borno State capital. The attack immediately led to the temporary closure of the road as the soldiers apparently retreated.
It was not known how many casualties were recorded in the ambush but witnesses said the terrorists were many. Motorists had to stay away from the road until Saturday afternoon when soldiers had beaten the terrorists back.
The insurgents also attacked Ngamdu village and killed 10 persons there. Spokesman for 7th Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri, Col. Tukur Gusau, denied knowledge of the attack. “Honestly, I don’t have the details of that. But I will find out and get back to you,” he said on the telephone.
Though he promised to get back after breaking his fast, he neither did nor picked subsequent calls to his phone. In a related development, five suspected suicide bombers killed themselves yesterday when the Improvised Explosive Device exploded in a tricycle conveying them to an intended target at Welcome Maiduguri near Department of State Security office and Borno Express Terminus Maiduguri. An eyewitness, Mallam Audu Isa, said the IEDs exploded near Borno Express Terminus in front of the DSS office Maiduguri, killing all the five occupants of the tricycle.
He said, “It occurred around 6:30a.m when passengers where rushing to catch vehicles to different destinations. I thank God that only the terrorists died, as security operatives immediately cordoned off the area.” Daily Mail newspaper of London reported on Friday that Boko Haram had set a terrifying new precedent by releasing its first gruesome video of the beheading of an unidentified African Union soldier.
The beheading video was the since it pledged allegiance to ISIS. The video adopts many of the same style-points as the hundreds of barbaric videos released by ISIS over the last year.
The ‘West Africa’ insignia in the top-left corner suggests the terror group has set up a new so-called media wing in Nigeria. The 10 minute-long propaganda video begins with what appears to be an intense firefight against Nigerian soldiers.
Boko Haram fighters exchange machine gun fire with the troops and launch heavy mortar grenades on their locations. It shows them standing proudly next to the corpses of scorched Nigerian troops – and showing off their security badges to the camera.
The video ends with the senseless murder of a captured AU soldier. With a look of true horror on his face, the man kneels in front of three masked Boko Haram fanatics – two of whom point AK47s at his head.
The video then cuts to reveal his decapitated body lying motionless on the floor. The audio message entitled ‘kill and be killed’ – released through the militants’ vast social media channels – was read by an ISIS spokesperson who also threatened further violence against the Christian and Jewish communities.
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