Nigerian soldier killed in foiled suicide attack at military location

The Nigerian Army reports that they lost a soldier on Thursday evening during a foiled suicide attack on a military location in Borno State.

According to an Army statement released on Friday, ‘‘a female suicide bomber attempted to enter the military location in Yamtake… but a vigilant sentry on duty gunned her down and she died instantly.’‘

‘‘The failed suicide bombing attack was followed up with futile probing attack by terrorists which was decisively dealt with by the troops,’‘ the statement added. It was the attacks after the incident which led to the death of the soldier.

‘‘The troops killed all the 4 attackers including 2 suicide bombers and recovered military accoutrement amongst others, 2 AK-47, 3 Magazines, 109 rounds of 7.62mm (Special), 3 Magazine carrier, 1 Illuminator pyrotecnic and some quantity of drugs.

The army is in charge of security in most parts of Borno State, which was the main base of Boko Haram terrorists who until recently had hoisted their flags in most Local Government Areas in the state.

The terrorists who the Army insists have been restricted to the Sambisa forest occasionally send young female suicide bombers to inflict harm on soft civilian populations including attacks on displaced peoples camps.

They have since the assumption of office of President Buhari in 2015, being on the back foot with a sustained counterinsurgency by the Nigerian Army pushing them back and restricting their audacious forays as used to be the case in the past.

The six year old insurgency by Boko Haram has already resulted in the displacement of more than two million people across the Lake Chad region comprising Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

In the third quarter of 2015, the Nigerian military launched Operation Lafiya Dole (Hausa for peace at all cost), and followed this up at the end of April with Operation Crackdown, intended as a final onslaught against Boko Haram in its Sambisa Forest base.