Fire-for-Fire: Soldiers & Boko Haram in Fight to Finish in Bama

Reuters quoted a soldier involved in the Bama battle as having said several of his colleagues were killed close to the Bama armoury in a bungled strike by a fighter jet targeting the insurgents.

He said the troops called in air reinforcements as they took on the insurgents but by the time a fighter jet arrived, they had mostly lost the battle in the area. In his words: “The jet then bombed the area but accidentally killed everyone there, both Nigerian troops and insurgents. The situation is bad. We lost so many of our men.”

The Senator representing Borno Central, Senator Ahmed Zannah, had also confirmed Reuters report. He had also told Punch on the phone that the insurgents were in control of Bama town.

He said, “Like I said yesterday (Monday), Bama is in the hands of Boko Haram, nothing has changed today (Tuesday). The Borno State Government is trying to play politics with the issue. I don’t know if they are trying to appease the military or the Federal Government. 

“Even this (Tuesday) morning, my brother’s two children were killed. Anybody telling you that Boko Haram is not in control of Bama is telling a lie. Many people were killed in the fighting. I don’t know the number because there is no access to the place. Some of those who died have not even been buried yet."

Investigations revealed that the military authorities had sent fighter jets during hours of fierce fighting in the area between troops and the insurgents early on Tuesday.

A security source said that the military leadership in the North-East had made preparation for the strafing of the town by telling all the civilians and even military personnel to relocate from the vicinity of areas under the control of the insurgents.

It was learnt that those who obeyed the advice were being quartered at Sectors 8 and 9 in Maiduguri. It was further gathered that the intensity of air attacks on the insurgents aided the soldiers in pushing them out of Bama.

As of the time of filing this report, the insurgents were said to be massing on the outskirts of Bama apparently to carry out another assault on the town.

The security source said that Monday’s attack by the insurgents was coordinated from Gwoza, which the insurgents captured last week.

The security source said that soldiers and the insurgents were still engaged in a gun duel over the control of the town even though the troops had been able to push them out of the town.

However, there were fears in Maiduguri as some residents said it was time for them to start planning relocating from the town. One of them, Sunday Emmanuel, said his apprehension was based on the news filtering through Bama and the influx of people from the town into Maiduguri.

He said, "There is everything to believe that the insurgents are closing in on Maiduguri with the capture of Damboa, Gwoza and now the attack on Bama.”