One of the major battle fronts between troops and terrorists in the past, Kala Balge had been the scene of fierce fighting with local people forming militias to prevent the terrorists taking over their own. Yesterday, army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman, said troops of newly inducted 3 Battalion, 22 Brigade, in conjunction with Army Headquarters Strike Group and the Armed Forces Special Forces carried out a spectacular clearance operation in the town on Tuesday.
Col Usman said: “The triumphant troops apart from killing 22 terrorists, cleared pockets of the terrorists in Wumbi, Tunish, Tilem and Malawaji. Others are Makaudari, Daima, Buduli, Sadigumo, Jiwe, Sidigeri and Kala villages and the troops also rescued 309 persons held captives by the terrorists.
“They also discovered and destroyed the terrorists training camp, their factory, locally made weapons and warehouse at Tilem and then secured Rann, the headquarters of Kala Balge Local Government Area. They also rescued 520 persons held hostage by the terrorists and recovered one motorcycle, weapons and axes."
He added that in a related development, troops of 3 Battalion with the support of the Civilian Joint Task Force also mounted a fighting patrol at Kusumma village in which they killed three Boko Haram terrorists and captured one alive. According to Col Usman, the troops, basking in the unprecedented achievement, are also making efforts to clear remnants of the terrorists in the surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, Nigeria's defence headquarters has urged the public and the international community to disregard a new video clip that shows Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, urging his men to surrender to government troops. Having looked at the video published earlier in the week, military commanders have now dubbed it fake and urged the public not be carried away with the remorseful-looking Shekau.
A defence headquarters spokesman said: “It has come to the notice of the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) about the online video clips purportedly released by the Boko Haram terrorist leader, Abubakar Shekau or his replica in Arabic and Hausa languages showing remorse and asking for forgiveness. DHQ wishes to state emphatically that not minding the contents of the video clips, the armed forces of Nigeria would continue to fight in order to consolidate the successes recorded so far and assuring Nigerians that no inch of the Nigerian territory would be allowed to be bastardized by any force of darkness again."
Chief of defence staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin commended all officers and men of the Nigerian armed forces for their sacrifices, determination and courage to degrade the terrorists and tasked them to complete the good job. He added that the video clips should be discountenanced as it could be another ploy or antic by the terrorists to get the public to relax its security alertness.
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