The late Lt.-Col. Alari and Nigerian troops on patrol in the B/Haram ravaged Northeast part of the country.
By Ahmed Bunu
No fewer than 20 soldiers including a commander have been killed in an attack at the military base in Malam-Fatori at Abadam Local Government Area of Borno State.
Malam-Fatori is a border town, two kilometres from the Nigerien border community, Bosso.
Reuters news agency, citing security sources and residents, on Sunday said a commanding officer was among those killed after ISWAP members arrived on gun trucks and attacked the Nigerian Army’s 149th Battalion in Malam-Fatori, gateway to the border with Niger Republic.
“They rained bullets everywhere,” one of the surviving soldiers told Reuters by phone, adding that the troops were taken by surprise.
“We tried so much to repel the attacks and after more than three hours of gun duel, they overpowered us, killing our commanding officer, a lieutenant colonel,” the soldier said, declining to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
He said 20 soldiers died while several were injured.
Residents who left the town said some of the attackers were seen in Malam-Fatori as late as Saturday night.
Malakaka Bukar, a member of the local militia recruited to help the army, said the fighters also burned buildings, forcing some residents to flee the town.
“They preached to some of the residents,” said Bukar.
A local source said that the attackers, who stormed the Malam-Fatori military base, wreaked havoc for several hours before dislodging the 149 Battalion.
Survivors of the deadly attack reportedly fled to safety.
Security sources confirmed that the insurgents arrived at the base in multiple gun trucks, razing several buildings and military operational vehicles during the assault.
“Many soldiers were seriously injured while several other personnel have gone missing,” a source said.
“The commanding officer of the battalion a lieutenant Colonel, two senior officers, including the base medical director, were among those killed in the attack.”
149 Taskforce Brigade Malam-Fatori is located two kilometres from the Nigerien border town of Bosso in Lake Chad where the insurgents are currently hibernating.
A military source disclosed that the attack on the military base happened when troops were on routine operations in the Timbuktu triangle from where they drove into an ambush that resulted in the death of the Commanding officer, Lt.-Col. Alari.
The Defence Headquarters, the Nigerian Army, and the other authorities have not commented on the latest attack.
The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) split from the mainstream Boko Haram in 2016 to become the dominant militant faction in the northeast.
They seized territory hitherto under Boko Haram control, including the Timbuktu Triangle and Sambisa forest, a game reserve turned jihadist stronghold.
The group is notorious for planting roadside mines and rigging vehicles with explosives to target troops.
Last July, seven troops were killed when their vehicle hit a landmine in a village where ISWAP is active.
The 15-year-old conflict has killed 40,000 and displaced around two million from their homes in the northeast.
The violence spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, leading to the creation of a regional force to fight the militants.