Military high command confirm that 13 soldiers and one policemen were killed in latest Boko Haram attack

NIGERIAN defence chiefs have confirmed that 13 soldiers and one policeman were killed in Yobe State yesterday when Boko Haram attacked a military formation at Kukareta village in Yobe State.

According to the military, the insurgents lunched two successive attacks on a military formation and an ambush along the Maiduguri/Damaturu highway at about 6.30 pm. Col Onyema Nwachukwu, a spokesman for the Seventh Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army said several insurgents were killed during the attack, while some others who participated in the attack were repelled.

Governor Ibrahim's Gaidam’s aide camp, who was in a convoy with the governor eldest son on their way back from Maiduguri, was killed in a separate attack. They ran into the insurgents at a roadblock thinking they were military personnel as they were dressed in military uniform.

Col Nwachukwu said: “Troops of Operation Lafiya Dole on Monday 24 December, 2018 repelled a Boko Haram terrorists’ attack on a forward operational base at Kukareta in Damaturu Local Government Area of Yobe State. The terrorists who attacked the location at about 6. 30 pm met with a prompt and fierce response of the vigilant troops who engaged and overpowered them, killing several of the terrorists but unfortunately, however, a soldier was wounded in the encounter.

"In another encounter, troops of the First Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army on escort duty along Damaturu-Maiduguri Road yesterday fought through an ambush staged by Boko Haram terrorists. The gallant troops engaged the terrorists in a fire fight, courageously wading through the ambush.

“Sadly, 13 military and a police personnel including a police officer, paid the supreme price while extricating themselves from the ambush. “A clearance operation to pursue and eliminate the Boko Haram terrorists ambush party is still ongoing, while the bodies of the gallant soldiers and the policeman and the wounded have been evacuated. "