Conflict reporter, Ahmad Salkida reported that the Nigerian Army have pushed back ISWAP fighters in Damboa, Borno state, after five hours of gun battle in which many members of the terrorist group lost their lives.
According to his report, posted on his verified Twitter handle, the ISWAP fighters abandoned 18 trucks as scores of dead bodies of their fighters littered the battlefield.
“Sadly, a few Nigerian security officials, hunters and Joint Task Force (JTF) civilians lost their lives in the battle,” he tweeted.
According to the tweet monitored by Muslim News,Salkida said:
“The Nigerian Army pushed back ISWAP fighters in Damboa, after five hours of gun battle, today. Scores of dead bodies of the insurgents and their 18 abandoned trucks litter the ground. Some security officials, including members of the Civilian JTF and hunters also lost their lives.”
But, The Punch and some Nigerian media outlets who quoted AFP reported that the terrorist group invaded a military base in northeast Nigeria, killed four police officers and two civilian militiamen during the attack.
“Suspected Boko Haram fighters in trucks fitted with machine guns launched a dawn raid on the army base in the town of Damboa, sparking intense fighting.
“We lost four mobile policemen and two civilian militia fighting alongside soldiers during the fight with the terrorists,” said a military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
They didn’t however speak on the casualties from the terrorist group who were dealt with by the Nigerian military except Vanguard newspaper who said;
“Further investigation revealed that there are many casualties from the side of the insurgents who had to carry away corpses of their dead colleagues and the injured ones during the encounter.”
Damboa lies on the fringe of Boko Haram’s Sambisa Forest stronghold from where the group has launched repeated attacks on villages and military posts.
Nigerian Muslims including the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saa’d Abubakar III have on several occasions condemned the activities of the terrorist group, insisting that they’re neither a ‘jihadist’ nor ‘Islamist terror’ as being painted by the Nigerian media, especially The Punch.
Just last week, the Imam of National Mosque, Abuja, Sheikh (Dr) Muhammad Kabir Adam said in an exclusive interview with Muslim News that the group doesn’t represent Islam and their strange ideology is diametrically opposed to the pristine teaching of Islam.
Good to hear this and may Allah strengthen our army to combat and victorious