Another Victory for the Nigerian Army Over insurgents in Konduga

Nigerian soldiers on Monday night clinched another huge victory over the extremist Boko Haram sect, repelling their attack on Konduga town in Borno State and killing at least 70 of the rampaging insurgents, security sources have told PREMIUM TIMES.


Muhammed Abbas, an official of the Nigeria Vigilante Group in Maiduguri told PREMIUM TIMES that the Boko Haram terrorists, who attacked the town at about 8 p.m. on Monday night, met stiff resistance from soldiers stationed in the town.

Mr. Abbas said after hours of gun battle, Nigerian soldiers, assisted by Civilian-JTF, subdued the insurgents, killing several of them, wounding many others while the rest retreated to the direction from which they came.
Over 70 bodies, believed to be that of Boko Haram fighters, were counted when calm returned to the town, he said.

A top military officer, who does not want to be named because he had no authority to speak on the matter, said the terrorists retreated after facing superior firepower.

“The insurgents came at about 8:30 p.m. on Monday to attack the town, but our men on ground effectively tackled them,” he said. “Nobody can tell you the exact number of insurgents killed, but we have over 70 that we counted around the town, but there are others that may have been killed in the bushes.”

Konduga is about 35 kilometers from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, and has been repeatedly attacked by the extremist Boko Haram sect.

The town was first attacked on February 11 this year by Boko Haram gunmen who killed 39 persons, injured several others even as they set ablaze over 1000 homes, including the palace of the community’s District head.

In their bid to expand their conquered territories and possibly attack Maiduguri, the Boko Haram sect, in September 2014, attempted to invade the Borno capital through Konduga, but met a terrible defeat when they lost over 200 of their members, including a top kingpin, then suspected to be the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau.

Despite the defeat, the insurgents reorganized and launched yet another attack on the community on September 15 but still met with a stiffer counter-attack by Nigerian troop that led to another massive loss of their members.

Two days after that attack, the terrorists returned to the town yet again. But they were again repelled by the military and members of the Civilian-JTF, who reportedly killed about 400 of them.
Monday night’s attack is about the fifth in the series of major attacks on the town by insurgents.

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