Army has buried 840 soldiers at Maiduguri's dedicated military cemetery since 2013

NIGERIA has buried a total of 840 soldiers slain by Bioko Haram terrorists at the military cemetery in the Borno State capital Maiduguri since it was established in 2013 as a dedicated burial site for troops.

Built along the same lines as America's Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, the Maiduguri facility is solely for the burial of military personnel. Since 2009, Boko Haram has been waging a war against the Nigerian state, which has led to the unfortunate deaths of thousands of soldiers, with the majority of them buried in Maiduguri.

Senator Ali Ndume, the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Army, said the 840 does not include other soldiers killed by the insurgents and buried in other military cemeteries located in other parts of the northeast. Pointing this out while briefing journalists in Abuja on the findings by his colleagues who recently returned from Maiduguri, Senator Ndume, however, denied reports of mass burial of soldiers killed by the terrorists.

It has been reported that Boko Haram recently killed a large number of soldiers and buried them in a mass grave. Senator Ndume also said the senate panel was already investigating allegations that some non-governmental agencies operating in the northeast, were providing useful information to the Boko Haram leaders.