Boko Haram terrorists have invaded the Forward Operating Base, Sabon Gari in Damboa LGA of Borno State, killing scores of soldiers, vigilantes and carting away military weapons on Saturday.
A security sources said the fighters in large numbers invaded the base around 4pm and overwhelmed the soldiers in the base, adding that the base had been tattacked more than 100 times, “what happened yesterday was a devastating one, many soldiers and vigilantes were killed and all the armament in the base carted away.
“Operation vehicles and buildings were also burnt this time around,” he said.
The military sources said, “They (insurgents) initially sent a big drone, which we all thought was a military surveillance before they later attacked the base.
“I cannot tell you the exact number of the soldiers and vigilantes or the identity of the officers killed but we have recovered over 12 dead bodies,” he said.
He said the terrorists coordinated their attack from the Mandara Gau in Biu Local Government Area, about 25 kilometers away from the Sabon Gari base and “forcefully took over a mango plantation owned by a former commissioner in Borno State, where they currently lived as a hideout,” he said.
Another security source said the gunmen scanned the military base with drones before the deadly attack, adding that between Chibok and Damboa, in the last two weeks, the insurgents had been surveying the areas with drones.
“In one of our bases, a day before Xmas, they attacked us and injured six soldiers.
On Christmas eve, the insurgents used drones and attacked the Forward Operating Base inside the Damboa LGA wounding at least six soldiers.
But Defense Headquarters spokesperson, Brig Gen Tukur Gusau, in Abuja, said the attack was a harassment, adding that it cannot be called an attack.
According to him, the fighter drones used by terrorists in the bombardment of the Nigerian military base were “toy drones.”
