Thirty-three soldiers were reportedly killed on Sunday when Boko Haram/ ISWAP terrorists invaded a military base at Mainok in Borno State .
Mainok, a community along Maiduguri- Damaturu road, is in Kaga local government area of Borno State. It is 55 kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital.
A military source, who pleaded for anonymity, said the ISWAP fighters rode on 16 gun trucks and six mine resistant vehicles (MRAPs).
The source added that ISWAP fighters stationed themselves in three formations. He said the first formation attacked the base , while the other two were set to ambush reinforcements of troops from both sides of Maiduguri- Damaturu road.
“The first group raided and overrun the military base in Mainok where they killed about 28 soldiers at the base. While the second group were stationed along Jakana to Mainok to ambush any reinforcement of troops from Jakana,” the source said.
” They successfully ambushed the troops and killed two soldiers while nine others were injured.”
The source added that the third group of ISWAP were stationed to ambush any reinforcements of troops from Ngamdu and Mainok, where they successfully ambushed the soldiers, seized one of the military’s mine resistant vehicles and killed three soldiers, thereby bringing total number of soldiers killed in the attack to 33.
Neither the military nor the police have issued a statement regarding the attack.
A village head of Mainok, Lawan Tuja told our correspondent that the terrorists invaded the base around 1pm on Sunday.