A suspected group of terrorists Islamic State of West Africa Province, ISWAP at the weekend killed Brigadier-General Dzarma Zirkushi, the commander of the 28 Task Force Brigade, Chibok Local Government Area of Borno state. Sources have said.
The terrorists killed the gallant officer, alongside three other soldiers, while on their way to reinforce troops at Bungulwa village, near Askira Uba local government area which came under series of attacks on Saturday and other days last week.
Some parts of Askira -Uba shares porous boundaries with Sambisa forest which is the hideouts of terrorists, due to closer of Maiduguri-Damaturu Road which is about 150km, takes like 2 hours to reach by motorists, it is now taking more than 5 to 10 hours to reach Askira if motorists took the only optional roads of Maiduguri- Bama- Bama- Gwoza or Maiduguri- Damaturu- Biu- Gombi- Mubi road which is over 500km drive from Maiduguri, the state capital.
Sources revealed that the insurgents who were on a revenge mission following the killing of one of their top commanders at Kalangal village of Askira Uba have succeeded in attacking Nigerian troops in Askira Uba, Ngamdu, Buniyadi and different locations in the North East.
Another source said, “the military troops with support from airforce Task team pursued some insurgents to nearby hideouts of Kalangal village and killed one of the topmost Commander and over 50 terrorists in the encounter last week, hence the series of terrorist attacks/ambushes witnessed within the last 7 days across the theatre of Operation Hadin Kai.”
An intelligence officer revealed that “The ISWAP terrorists who invaded the Askira Uba town at about 9 am on Saturday destroyed telecommunication masts with guns and other firearms in their possession, forcing residents to flee.”
“Another member of vigilante who assisted the troops during the encounter, but did not want his name mentioned for security reasons said, “The Brigade Commander along side his three soldiers were killed in an ambush while on their mission for reinforcement operation along the Uba-Askira-Chibok-Damboa road axis”.
Meanwhile, our correspondent gathered that at Ngamdu town, in Kaga Local Government of Borno, ISWAP terrorists suffered a devastating blow in the hands of the troops, unfortunately, three Special Force operatives paid the supreme price during the encounter.
