Seventeen soldiers and two policemen were killed in a fresh Boko Haram attack on military base at Kuka-reta village in Damaturu, Yobe state.
A security source told Daily Trust that seventeen bodies of the dead soldiers were recovered at the Monday’s evening attack at the base located 20km from Damaturu.
“17 bodies of dead soldiers were recovered, Kuka-reta JTF camp destroyed, 2 military trucks burnt down completely and looted equipments and drugs from the medical centre in the area,” he revealed.
A resident, Muhammad Lawan, said that heavily armed fighters stormed the village around 5pm on Monday and attacked the soldiers in the location.
“They arrived in eight trucks and 2 motorcycles and open fire on the military. We all scampered to the nearby bushes for safety.
“Later in the night, we saw some of the wounded soldiers. I personally called the soldier to come and pick one of their men that lost his hand, and had bullet wounds but they refused to come,” he said.
A source from Damaturu Specialist Hospital said the soldiers have deposited 18 corpses at the morgue.
“The corpses were brought here and deposited very early in the morning today but we cannot confirm whether they are all security operatives,” he said.
However, of the 17 security operatives killed, the Orderly to the Aide De Corp (ADC) of Governor Ibrahim Gaidam was among the dead.
Daily Trust gathered that the orderly, Inspector Ahmad was killed by the insurgents after picking the governor’s son from Maiduguri International Airport.
“On arriving at Kuka-reta, there was hold up on the highway and he decided to clear the way, not knowing that the insurgents were attacking the base. Unfortunately, they shot him dead, while the governor’s son and the driver narrowly escaped,” he revealed.
