Army Commander and 21 Soldiers have been reportedly killed in Borno Terrorist attacks.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that two days after the killing of 20 fishermen at Gadan Gari fishing community in Bama local government area of Borno on Wednesday, another armed terrorists suspected to be Boko Haram/ ISWAP have reportedly killed a military Commander, two other senior military officers abd and 17 soldiers at a military base in Malam – Fatori, the headquarters of Abadam local government area of the State.
Bama is in Borno Central while Malam- Fatori, in the Abadam local government area in the northern part of the State is between Borno and the Republic of Niger border.
Just a few weeks ago, a similar incident took place when some terrorists invaded a military base in the Sabon Gari community of Damboa local government area in Borno state, killing several soldiers including officers.
Reliable sources said the attackers who invaded the Mallam-Fatori military base wreaked havoc for several hours on Friday, January 24, 2025, after which they dislodged the 149 Battalion in Malam-Fatori as soldiers who survived the deadly attack fled the area to a safer place.
The intelligence sources who confirmed the attack added that the insurgents attacked the base with multiple gun trucks, saying that the terrorists razed many buildings and military operational vehicles during the attack.
” Apart from the dead bodies recovered, many other soldiers were seriously injured while a yet-to-be-ascertained number of personnel were still missing as of Saturday.
” The commanding officer of the battalion, two senior officers including the base medical director were among those killed.
” This comes a few days after the terror group launched a brutal attack on the military’s Forward Operating Base in the Damboa local government area of Borno State, killing a yet-to-be-confirmed number of soldiers, with many believed to still be missing.
“25 Taskforce Brigade was attacked during the weekend with so many casualties, so far we have recovered over seven bodies. The terror group invaded the camp FOB Sabon Gari around 4 am on Saturday, using various weapons,” the sources said.
Meanwhile, in the Gadan Gari attack in Bama, Modu Ari, a member of the civilian joint task force, said the insurgents stormed the fishing community on Wednesday at about 11:00 am, and opened fire at fishermen working in the area, killing at least 20.
Mustapha Kachallah, a resident, said his child was killed in the attack and that they had buried more than 15 people.
The military and Borno state officials have not yet commented on the attacks.
Between November last year and this day, there seemed to be a resurgence of attacks by the terrorists from all corners of Borno State, before these two attacks, the terrorists killed over 40 farmers in the Dumba area which is a fishing and farming community in Kukawa local government area of the State.
The current situation calls for urgent action by the federal government and the Nigerian military to ensure that the relative peace being enjoyed before these current attacks are restored, especially now that the State government is massively resettlement some of the internally displaced persons ( IDPs ) yet to be resettled back to their ancestral homes.
