Hushed excitement over alleged death of top Boko Haram leader
Buoyed by the forces from neighboring Frican countries, the Nigerian troops Are recording dramatic fortunes in their fight against the deadly terror group Boko Haram in the North East.
There has been hushed excitement over the reported death of a top ranking leader of the terrorists operating in the region, which is one gains of the tops upped campaign against the insurgents.
According to PRNigeria, which is one of the most reliable sources to the activies of the troops out there on campaign against the insurgents, sources at the frontline reported that the leader was a casualty of the ongoing heavy air bombardment from warplanes.
The aerial onslaught the PR news portal said cleared the way for the ground troops of the Multi-National Joint Task Force to move into some towns near one of the boarders.
The troops, it was further learnt, has made dramatic gains recapturing some hitherto taken by the insurgents.
A couple of weeks ago, the military high command had obtained approval of political authorities in Abuja to go all out and clear the region of insurgency before the February general elections.
At a period when massive operations were to start, however, the terrorists carried out simultaneous desperate and diversionary attacks on Maiduguri, Konduga and Monguno.
This was to delay the commencement of the planned military offensive and allow for the escape of their commanders holed around the axis.
Despite this, however, the operations commenced and has been fierce, with the cooperation of Chad, Niger and Cameroon, who are all Nigeria's neighbours, leading to the capture of many towns and villages previously infested by the terrorists.
Some of the towns retaken include Gamboru-Ngala, Malamfatori, Abadam, Kirawa and Ashigashiya and Michika, while the liberation of Gwaoza, Gulak and others may be announced any moment from now.
During these battles, some of the weapons captured from troops when the terrorists overran Baga, the headquarters of the MNJTF, some weeks ago, were recovered by Nigerian fighters.
It would be recalled that a leader of Boko Haram had in a video released shortly after the Baga attack boasted that his band captured world class sophisticated weaponry from Nigerian troops who he referred to as cowards.
Among the recovered weapons was a Battle Armoured Tank equipped with comprehensive protective system and maximum firing distance and accuracy, with anti-aircraft rotating mount.
Its fire accuracy is attained by range-finder, ballistic computer with a thermal barrel sleeve.
Several other weapons, arms and ammunition, including variety of armoured vehicles and artillery guns, as well as several Hilux vehicles were also captured from them.
A reliable security source confirmed the death of the top ranking leader during the air raid, but which authenticity was still being investigated by military authorities.
The leader was one of the senior officers in the Boko Haram command to the late founder of the group, Muhammed Yusuf.
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