Borno: Troops repel Boko Haram attack, Kill 25 terrorists
Troops of Operation HADIN KAI, backed by two fighter jets, have successfully repelled a Boko Haram terrorist attack on the headquarters of Kukawa Local Government Area in Borno State, killing 25 insurgents. However, the…
Kukawa, a local government area near Lake Chad in northern Borno State, sits in a corridor that has long been contested by Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). The area's proximity to the Lake Chad basin's islands and waterways has made it a recurring staging ground for insurgent attacks on military formations and civilian settlements, despite years of counter-insurgency operations by Operation Hadin Kai, the military's task force for the North-East.
The reports agree that troops, supported by air power, repelled an attack on Kukawa and inflicted significant casualties on the attackers, with both outlets citing a toll of roughly 20 to 25 terrorists killed. Daily Trust attributes the attack to Boko Haram while Vanguard identifies the attackers as ISWAP, reflecting the frequent difficulty in distinguishing between the two factions, which have overlapped and split over the years. Neither report yet details troop casualties, the identities of the attackers' commanders, or the current security situation in Kukawa following the clash.