The Nigerian Army has said that the attacks on a Military barracks in Maiduguri on Friday morning was a move by pockets of terrorists to boost their depleted stock of fighters by freeing their colleagues who are being held in detention.
This is according to a statement by the Director of Defence Information, Major-General Chris Olukolade.
The statement read: “The attack has been successfully repelled with heavy human casualty on the terrorists. Some of the victims of the terrorists’ fire in their efforts to break into the detention facility included those they came to rescue.
“Many of the terrorists and their weapons have been captured. Four soldiers were wounded and are being treated. Hot pursuits by land and air operations are ongoing along with cordon and search of surrounding localities.
“No institution has been reported attacked, although the effect of firing from the encounter could be noticed in surrounding facilities in Maiduguri.”
The military statement, while promising to give more details later, added that it believed that the terrorists’ attempt was in response to the intensity of attacks on their strongholds in camps at Talala, Monguzum, Sambisa forests, Gwoza, Mandara mountains as well as the general area of Lake Chad, where the “camps have been destroyed and many insurgents killed.”
