A company of federal troops hit by a suicide attack by Boko Haram terrorists in Gwoza, Borno, recently wouldn’t have had up to 13 dead soldiers had the extraction effort succeeded.
Sources confirmed to the National Daily that two soldiers were initially killed, and others injured when the military truck carrying the soldiers was blown up by landmines Boko Haram planted along the way.
“A military Mitsubishi was truck struck by the IED device; the scene was horrible and the soldiers were critically wounded,” a security source was quoted as saying in the initial report.
But the rescue-mission plane could not land to evacuate the soldiers. Visibility was bad, the source said. And the aircraft had to return.
The Nigeria Army has yet to make any official statement on the incident.
The Nigerian forces have been taking hits lately in spite of the federal government insistence that it has defeated the terrorists.