A suicide bomber reportedly attacked a military convoy in the Timbuktu Triangle area of Borno State on Tuesday, killing five Nigerian soldiers and injuring many others.
Sources said the attacker drove an explosive-laden vehicle into the convoy as troops were returning from a clearance operation against insurgent camps in the area. Two senior officers, a major and a lieutenant, were among those affected.
A military source who gave details of the incident said the blast destroyed armoured and logistics vehicles and damaged equipment being used for ongoing offensive and defensive operations.
“Five soldiers were lost in the incident, but the commander is safe and operations are continuing,” the source said, but maintained that the attack would not halt military activities in the area.
The remains of the deceased soldiers were airlifted to Maiduguri, while those wounded were evacuated for medical treatment.
The Timbuktu Triangle is a known flashpoint in the insurgency and was the location of a previous ambush in which Brigadier General Musa Uba was captured and executed by terrorists.
The attack came a day after the Joint Task Force North East, Operation HADIN KAI, announced the clearance of multiple Boko Haram and ISWAP camps in the same axis under Operation Desert Sanity.
The operation’s spokesperson, Lt. Col. Sani Uba, in a statement informed that troops carried out intelligence-led operations across terrorist enclaves including Chilaria, Garin Faruk and Abirma, with support from the Air Component providing surveillance and reconnaissance.
He said the troops recovered weapons, ammunition, communication devices, vehicles, medical supplies, food stocks and fuel dumps, significantly degrading insurgents’ operational capacity.
Lt. Col. Uba added that troops also repelled armed drone attacks launched by terrorists during the operation, forcing them to withdraw.
He, however, noted that the morale among the troops remains high and that military operations will continue as forces remain on alert in the area, which he described as calm but unpredictable.
