Also, an online news newspaper, PREMIUM TIMES, quoting unnamed military sources, reported yesterday that the terrorists captured a T-72 tank as well as several artillery weapons from the unit.
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“The Theatre Commander Operation Lafiya Dole has addressed the issue and gave journalists the opportunity to ask questions and clarify doubts about the Gudumbali incidence”.
The media was awash on Wednesday with reports that an intense attack from Boko Haram insurgents at Gudunbali, Borno State, resulted in the 157 Battalion of the Nigerian Army not being able to account for at least, 105 soldiers including their commanding officer.
Nigerian army, supported by troops from Chad, Niger and Cameroon, has been engaging Boko Haram in the northeast. “In fact, I spoke with the OC (officer in charge) this morning and all I can tell you is that our troops are holding the ground”, he said.
At the press briefing, attended by our reporter in Maiduguri, the commander of 7 Division, Yushau Abubakar, also admitted that the troops were involved in a major clash with the insurgents. He declared the report as “a fabrication from the imagination of those sympathetic to Boko Haram ways of life”.
Colonel Gusau said, “The Theatre Command wishes to state that the story is far from the truth and misrepresentation of facts”.
“However, the unit suffered a few casualties which is normal in military operations”.
A statement by the Army spokesman Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman did not provide the details of the setbacks, but said the situation was being stabilized.
The statement reads in part: “However, situation being stabilised”.
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However, the troops have re-joined their units to launch an offensive. “The CO (Commanding Officer) is now with his soldiers”, he added.
