Ebun Francis with agency report
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, on Friday confirmed the killing of 15 boko haram terrorists and capture of a foreigner in Rann, a boarder town with Cameroon. The suspect and the killed terrorists were among the group of insurgents that attacked Rann, the location of the internally displaced persons that was mistakenly bombed by Air force jets earlier in the week.
The chief of Armu Staff, who was on operational visits to the troops of the 3rd batallion based in Rann, disclosed that the insurgents who were the intended targets of the Air force jets on Tuesday returned to the town in two gun trucks on Thursday at about 6p.m. to attack, but were repelled by the soldiers.
According to Buratai, “Two of our soldiers were also affected in the unfortunate incident.”
He described the incident as unfortunate and big mistake.
“We have all learnt lessons from it.
“We will take note of this; the issue of coordination and passage of the right information will help to prevent such incident again.
“It is a mistake which can happen and it has happened in other places. We pray it never happen again,” he said.
Buratai therefore urged them not to allow the unfortunate incident to demoralise them.
He charged them to remain committed, dedicated and patriotic, assuring them that their efforts would be rewarded.
The Commanding Officer of 3 Battalion, Lt.-Col. I. P. Omoke, disclosed that Rann was one of the last towns retaken from the insurgents on March 22, 2016.
Omoke said since then, the terrorists had made five failed attempts to attack the town but never succeeded.
Rann, the headquarters of Kala Balge Local Government Area of Borno, is 175km from Maiduguri and 8km to the Republic of Cameroon.