KANO: At least 17 Nigerian soldiers were killed in a fresh Boko Haram attack on a military base in the country’s northeast, military sources told AFP Thursday, the third assault on three different bases in less than a month.
On Wednesday evening, heavily armed extremists riding in trucks stormed and looted weapons and vehicles from a military base in Garunda village in Borno State, the epicenter of the insurgency that has been raging for nine years.
The attack is the latest of a series of bloody Boko Haram assaults on military bases in Nigeria, underscoring the continued threat the extremists pose to the region and putting the spotlight on the Nigerian government’s claim that Boko Haram is “decimated.”
“Our troops came under attack from Boko Haram terrorists in Garunda last night,” a military officer told AFP.
“Unfortunately we lost 17 troops, 14 others were injured while an unspecified number is still unaccounted for,” said the military source, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the incident.
The source added that the militants looted weapons and vehicles before fleeing.
In the past month, Boko Haram extremists have launched two other major assaults on military bases in the remote northeast region.
On July 14, militants suspected to be loyal to Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi, who is affiliated with the Daesh group, attacked a base in Jilli village, in neighboring Yobe state.
Dozens of troops were killed, wounded or missing, according to several security sources.
The army conceded the base was attacked but did not give a death toll, saying that the “troops reorganized and successfully repelled the attack and normalcy has since returned to the area.”
On July 26, the extremists stormed a base on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the state capital of Borno state.
The base attacked yesterday in Garunda village of Borno state had just been set up for troops from the 81 brigade who had been stationed in Jilli village and forced to move after the July 14 assault.
“The truth of the matter is that the troops in Jilli were relocated to Garunda where a new base was established,” said the second military source, who gave a similar death toll.
“Troops were just setting up and the excavator operator was working to fortify the base with trenches against attack from the terrorists when the attack happened,” said the officer.
The Nigerian army did not respond to requests for comment.
Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Thursday confirmed in a statement that a staff member, an excavator operator attached to the military, “was killed by Boko Haram yesterday in Damasak, Borno state.”
Boko Haram no longer controls swathes of territory in northeast Nigeria as it did at the height of its insurgency in 2014, yet the militants still pose a threat to the impoverished region.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has insisted that the extremists are a spent force as he gears up for elections next year.
In an interview with Nigerian press published on Thursday, Buhari’s information minister Lai Mohammed said “we promised to fight insecurity...despite what anybody says, we have decimated Boko Haram.”
Six months away from presidential polls, Buhari is under pressure to defend his track record as he battles insecurity across Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.
Boko Haram militants kill 17 Nigerian soldiers
Boko Haram militants kill 17 Nigerian soldiers
- Heavily armed extremists riding in trucks stormed and looted weapons and vehicles from a military base in Borno State
- Boko Haram no longer controls swathes of territory in northeast Nigeria as it did at the height of its insurgency in 2014
Danish PM backs NATO ‘permanent presence’ around Greenland
- “We have asked NATO to be more present in the Arctic region,” Frederiksen said
- She said discussions about Denmark’s sovereignty were off the table
BRUSSELS: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Thursday that NATO states backed having a “permanent presence” in the Arctic, including around Greenland, after US President Donald Trump claimed a framework deal was struck to satisfy his demands.
“We have asked NATO to be more present in the Arctic region,” Frederiksen said at the start of a European Union summit in Brussels.
“Everybody in NATO agrees about that, the Arctic states, but also other member states, that we need a permanent presence from NATO in the Arctic region, including around Greenland.”
Trump on Wednesday backed down from the threat of using force or tariffs to try to take over Greenland, after saying an agreement was reached in talks with NATO chief Mark Rutte.
Details remained scant of the accord — but Trump did not make any progress toward his goal of trying to gain control over the autonomous Arctic territory of fellow NATO member Denmark.
Frederiksen said discussions about Denmark’s sovereignty were off the table. “It cannot be changed,” she said.
NATO said following the talks that the alliance would ramp up security in the Arctic, after Trump used the perceived threat from Russia and China to justify his desire for Greenland.
A source familiar with the discussions said Denmark and the United States would also look to renegotiate a 1951 defense pact on Greenland that governs American troop deployments on the island.
“We said to the Americans a year ago that we can discuss our agreement on defense, but it has to be in the framework of us as a sovereign state,” Frederiksen said.
The Danish leader insisted the two sides “have to work together respectfully, without threatening each other.”
“I, of course, hope to find a political solution within the framework of democracy and how we cooperate as allies,” she said.
