The Nigerian Defence
Headquarters has confirmed that an entire battalion of soldiers fled the town
of Mubi in Adamawa State earlier today in response to an attack by
“insignificant” Boko Haram militants, but that an investigation is going on to
establish why.
A senior military source
said there was no reason to believe that the Special Operation Battalion troops
stationed in Mubi should have fled from the militants or in response to
their threats because the army had decided to use the headquarters in Mubi to launch
an attack to retake several towns from Boko Haram in the coming days. To that
effect, five artillery tanks had been brought into Mubi in the last few days,
the source said.
The officer
disclosed that efforts are being made to send in fresh troops to replace the
fleeing ones and push out any militants that might have entered Mubi.
Some of the soldiers
who spoke with reporters said their base had fallen to the militants but the
senior officer said he could not confirm if the militants reached the base as
the troops had all fled. The soldiers said air patrols were taking place around
the area.
Efforts to reach
military spokesman General Chris Olukolade to speak about the situation have so
far proved abortive.
Comments
Post a Comment