Five soldiers, including an officer from the 117 Battalion, 28 Task Force Brigade, have been killed while 15 others were injured when they ran into landmines planted by Boko Haram insurgents during an operation in a remote village in the southern part of Borno State on Thursday, sources said.
It was learnt that the incident happened at 10.20am near Kwada Kwamtah Yahi village in Chibok Local Government Area of Borno where their vehicle ran over a massive bomb that exploded, killing one army officer and four others.
A top vigilante member, Yohanna Bitrus, who was part of the troops’ clearance operations in Kwada Kwamtah Yahi village, disclosed that a utility operation vehicle ran over a buried improvised explosive device (IED) and loud explosions ensued, resulting in casualties among troops in the two Hilux vehicles.
“It was a sad encounter for us in Chibok when our escort commander’s car ran over a landmine and the van was damaged completely.
“I saw the vehicle being tossed up into the air. We managed and summoned courage to evacuate the corpses of the fallen heroes including a lieutenant and four soldiers.
“Not fewer than 15 others sustained various degrees of injuries; they are currently receiving medical care at 28 Task Force Bridge Clinic in Chibok,” he said.
A security source also confirmed the landmines attack on troops’ convoy to our correspondent.
“It happened yesterday; we lost some gallant soldiers but that won’t deter our determination to wipe them out in our current campaigns,” the security source said.
