Tongues Wag Over Increasing Boko Haram Ambush, Military Casualties

The Nigerian military’s effort against insurgency in the North-east has witnessed tough times in the past one year despite the unrelenting onslaught against Boko Haram, as renewed attacks have claimed army commanders and their troops in ambush, while others are missing in action. Daily Trust digs in.

Sometime in November 2015, a massive explosive was reportedly thrown by Boko Haram militants on Nigerian troops in Gajiganna, Damasak Local Government Area of Borno State that led to the killing of over 100 soldiers.

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Though some of the troops were said to have been massively burnt in the explosion, when pictures taken by survivors and rescuers were later released on the social media, the Nigerian military authorities denied the incident.

A top military source has now confided in Daily Trust that the Gajigana attack actually took place with heavy casualties on the military even as other sources gave reasons for the upsurge in ambush attacks on the military.

“That attack actually happened and it was much later that the military authorities confirmed that the Commanding Officer and some of his men were missing,” said the source who sought anonymity.

The senior officer also confirmed the attack that reportedly occurred on December, 15, 2015, in which members of the Special Force Team B were said to have been ambushed along Bama-Konduga road in Borno State. The Commanding Officer, Lt. Col. H.O. Salami and some of his men were reportedly killed and others were wounded in that attack and were  all evacuated to the 7 Division Hospital in Maiduguri.

Similar attacks led to the killing of some of the finest military commanders and their troops through fierce confrontation and ambush by the Boko Haram and other natural and manmade factors.

Some of them include; Lieutenant Shitu Kyom Leo, Captain Kenneth Onubah, Major Samuel Jega Kanady Dalaky, Captain Benjamin Toyirin Sule, Flight Lieutenant  Onyeka Nwakile and recently Lt K. Yusuf and Lieutenant Colonel Abu-Ali, among others.

But while officers do have some mentioning after their demise, hundreds of the rank and file that paid the supreme price in the battle field are hardly heard of.

A visit to the military cemetery near the Maimalari Barracks in Maiduguri gives a hindsight as to how many Nigerian military personnel have put their lives on the line in the war against terrorists.

Several graves dot the vast burial ground, even as the fallen soldiers’ names are displayed at the cenotaph at the entrance of the cemetery. In most cases, corpses of the fallen heroes are not given to their families as it is the responsibility of military authorities to conduct their funeral rites.

Sources within the Nigerian Army believe it will take a very long time to replace the gallant troops killed by the Boko Haram at their prime.

Reign of ambush

November 18, 2015 was a black day for the Nigerian Army. On that day, 105 out of 157 soldiers attached to the Multi-National Joint Task Force based in Baga town of Borno State reportedly went missing at the sprawling village of Gudunbali.

According to reports, a T-72 battle tank, 105 soldiers, two officers, (including the co-commanding officer), eight vehicles, a truck loaded with 60,000 rounds of AA ammunition and three artillery pieces were captured by Boko Haram insurgents.

That incident had prompted a campaign with the hashtag #BringBackOurSoldiers which went viral on the social media, particularly on Twitter, with many Nigerians expressing their fear of the rising level of insecurity in the country.

Although military authorities denied the report, no account was offered on the whereabouts of the soldiers, even as a recent inquiry by Daily Trust to the Nigerian Army specifically on the status of the 105 soldiers went unreplied.

The incident at Gudumbali appeared to have spiked a series of ambush and attacks that have left no fewer than 40 soldiers dead with 50 others sustaining various degrees of injury in parts of the North-east, particularly in Borno State.

Perhaps, the saddest death recorded by the Nigerian Army in recent times was when it’s one of its most efficient fighters died in battle, after surviving deadly onslaughts and dodging bullets for several years.

Muhammed Abu-Ali, a lieutenant colonel, was killed in an ambush laid for his troops by the Boko Haram sect on November 4. That ambush reportedly left 14 Boko Haram militants and four other soldiers dead, according to the army.

Lt. Col. Abu-Ali, who until his death was the Commanding Officer of the 272 Tank Battalion, was reputed as one of the army’s bravest commanders and fighters in Nigeria’s ongoing war against terrorism, having previously bagged an accelerated promotion for his gallantry and efficiency on the battlefield.

The ambush that claimed Abu-Ali reportedly occurred at Mallam Fatori, a major Boko Haram stronghold on the northernmost tip of Borno State. The attack also left six other soldiers dead, while Boko Haram reportedly lost 14 of its members.

Nigerian Army spokesman, Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, who confirmed the incident, said four other soldiers also sustained injury during the fight.

Two weeks earlier, scores of Nigerian troops went missing in a similar attack by Boko Haram which was also said to have claimed an unknown number of troops while wounding 22 others. About 83 military personnel were reported to be still missing in action following that attack.

Barely a week after Colonel Ali’s death, another commander, B.U. Umar, a lieutenant colonel and commanding officer of the 114 TF Battalion of the Nigerian Army, was ambushed and killed with his troops between Bita and Piridang.

Eight other soldiers who were said to be on their way to Yola in Adamawa State from Bita in Borno State when the incident occurred were injured and evacuated to Michika, Adamawa State, for treatment even as the full casualty from that attack was not made clear.

Lt. Col. Umar, who had taken over command of the 114 Battalion about three weeks earlier, was a member of the 48th Regular Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA Kaduna.

Checks by Daily Trust showed September to November 2016 may have recorded the highest number of military casualties from Boko Haram attacks. Within the period, many troops are yet to be accounted for. Among those reportedly killed are Major D.S. Erasmus and eight soldiers on September 28 in an ambush along Bama- Banki Road.

Similarly, Lt. Col. K. Yusuf and 83 soldiers are reportedly missing in action since October 16 this year when Boko Haram attacked troops’ location at Gashigar. On November 5, two soldiers were said to have been killed at Kwada during a Boko Haram attack on troops’ location. One soldier was wounded while two others were declared missing in action. In another attack in Kangarwa on November 6, one soldier was killed while four others were wounded in action while 13 Boko Haram militants were killed and an unconfirmed number wounded.

Not a few Nigerians had been in mourning following the killing of Colonels Abu-Ali and B.U. Umar who died alongside several troops. Military insiders said the army has launched an inquiry into the circumstances that led to the deaths.

The renewed onslaught by Boko Haram against the military in the past one year has left security experts asking why such attacks and killings are increasing. Although the Nigerian Army has attributed the attacks to remnants of the militants, some military sources and security analysts say it implies that Boko Haram remains a formidable force.

Why the recent setbacks

Obsolete equipment, poor handling of security reports and exhaustion by personnel have been identified as some of the factors responsible for the recent setbacks by security forces in the fight against Boko Haram, though this was not independently verified, especially with recent reports of procurement of fresh military hardware to confront the insurgents.

Daily Trust gathered that though massive aerial bombardment, reconnaissance and ground operations around the 60,000 square kilometre Sambisa forest had led to serious destabilization of the Boko Haram, the successes recorded came along with new challenges.

It was gathered that in the recent past, troops and commanders operated under harsh climatic conditions, fought in the battle field for more hours than expected while machines and equipment were over used, a development that reduced their capacity to perform at optimum capacity.

Instead of fighting in the warfront for between three and six months, some officers and men remained on the frontlines up to two years.

An officer serving in Maiduguri said the pattern of replenishment for the troops killed is very minimal and is affecting operations.

“Assuming 50 soldiers are killed within four months, such number is hardly replaced for the next one year and this creates a wallowing gap in the operation,” he said, adding: “If for instance you need 100 soldiers to man a certain place, you end up having just 50 or less.”

Another officer said after their displacement from parts of Sambisa forest, Boko Haram militants used the “opportunity of the shortfall in the ranks of the military” to open new frontiers in central and northern parts of Borno State, hence stretching the activities and capacity of troops and equipment.

Also, the split in the Boko Haram that led to the emergence of two camps, one led by Abubakar Shekau and the other by Abu Mus’ab Albarnawi, the son of late founder of the group, Mohammed Yusuf, added unanticipated pressure on the Nigerian troops.

A source close to the operations revealed that while a lot of successes have been recorded in the last days of the Jonathan administration which was taken further by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration from May, 2015, “newer challenges began to manifest from around November, 2015.”

Worn out equipment

Daily Trust reliably gathered that the spread of violence in many parts of Nigeria have led to over utilization of equipment and their eventual collapse due to limited time to fix or replace them.

 “The attention of the Nigerian military was sharply divided as a result of renewed militancy in the Niger Delta, a development that makes operations in the North-east to suffer some setbacks”, a military source who wouldn’t want his name in print said.

He said many troops and equipment originally deployed to the North-east for the war against Boko Haram were taken to the Niger Delta for operations to curb militancy.

Other sources said the equipment that were used to recapture swathes of territory in Adamawa, Borno, Yobe are the same equipment deployed to the Niger Delta and parts of Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State and the vast forests in Zamfara State.

The equipment being used for the operations include Mine Resistance Anti-Personnel (M-RAP); the T-72, the Men Battle Tank (MBT) and Scorpions.

A source said both the machines and those manning them had been “over used” in the past one year, a development that brings about poor performance.

“Do you know that operatives of the 101 Battalion that worked tirelessly in the North-east were completely redeployed to the Niger Delta for the Operation Crocodile Smile against oil militants?

“Are you aware that the same 101 Battalion were the ones sent to Birnin Gwari to confront kidnappers and they redeployed to Zamfara State to confront cattle rustlers,” a source said.

The source, who is close to the operations, said beside the fatigue that has overrun the soldiers, the equipment too, appear tired.

Military reaction

When Daily Trust sought to know the current position of the 105 soldiers that were reported missing at Gudinbali as well as the official number of casualties incurred from Boko Haram attacks in the past one year, the military declined comment.

The military spokesman however denied the allegation that most of the equipment meant for the fight against insurgency in the North-east had been redeployed to the South-south.

“This is not true as we have sufficient platforms to deploy to any part of the country to maintain peace and deny any enemy of the state from operating. People just speculate to satisfy themselves but is not true and there is nothing to suggest that”, he said.