Insurgents launched a late-night assault on Thursday against security formations in Banki, Bama LGA of Borno state, leaving two soldiers and a nine-year-old boy dead.
Gatekeepers News reports that the raid, which occurred at about 10:15 pm, targeted the Bula Yobe forward operating base, the 152nd battalion, and the divisional police headquarters in the area.
According to Zagazola Makama, a counterinsurgency publication, three military vehicles were also set ablaze.
Troops, initially pinned down by heavy gunfire, requested air support. In response, two A-29 Super Tucano aircraft carried out precision strikes on retreating insurgents, eliminating “32 Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters.”
The soldiers’ bodies have been moved to Maiduguri, while the remains of the boy, identified as Ismail Abubakar, were released to his family.
Makama added that reinforcements have since been deployed to Banki and its surroundings.
