The Nigerian army on Tuesday lost no fewer than 47 troop members to the deadly Boko Haram sect in Gorogi area of Borno state after they were ambushed by the extremists.
This was made known in a statement by the Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, in a statement on the official website of the Nigerian army.
Statement reads:
“Troops of Operation Lafiya Dole have dealt another crippling blow on Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East part of the country. This was achieved at Gorigi in the Allagarno Forest general area of Borno State.
“The routing occurred when the Land Component of the operation conducting clearance operations along the Allagarno Forest axis, as part of the ongoing subsidiary, Operation Ayiso Tamonuma, came into contact with mounted Boko Haram terrorists.
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“Accordingly, air assets, including an Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance platform and fighter jets were immediately scrambled to provide close air support to the troops.
“While the ISR platform provided situational awareness to the troops, the fighter jets engaged the terrorists, immobilising a gun truck and neutralising some of the terrorists.
“Sadly, we suffered some casualties in the unfortunate attack. We lost 37 soldiers and we later picked up 10 more corpses. They were not killed by the terrorists; they were killed by a bomb explosion because they were conveying bombs meant for the operation.
“The Defence Headquarters commiserates with the families of our fallen gallant heroes who paid the supreme price in the course of defending our fatherland.”
