By Joy Odor Reportcircle News
It was a long night of gunfire, explosions and aerial strikes across Borno’s dark horizon and by dawn, the insurgents were running.
Troops of Operation Hadin Kai repelled coordinated terrorist attacks on multiple fronts, neutralising scores of ISWAP fighters, destroying gun trucks and crushing attempted base overruns in Limankara and Kukawa in what military sources described as one of the fiercest engagements in recent weeks.
The attacks began late on February 20 when insurgents launched simultaneous assaults, a tactic often used to stretch military formations. But this time, they walked into prepared defences.
At the Forward Operating Base in Limankara, attackers attempted a stealth infiltration under cover of darkness.
They never made it inside.
Alert troops opened fire instantly, triggering a prolonged firefight.
Reinforcements and air support were rushed to the contact point, forcing the terrorists to retreat through a nearby burial ground.
By morning, intelligence sources confirmed multiple enemy casualties.
Not a single soldier was lost.
No equipment was captured.
Military authorities declared the base secure.
Almost simultaneously, dozens of insurgents mounted on motorcycles and gun trucks stormed Kukawa from the Alagarno and Jemmu axes in a coordinated multi-pronged attack.
Troops held their ground through the night.
Then the air component arrived.
Precision strikes hit a gun truck instantly destroying it and killing four fighters.
Minutes later, surveillance aircraft tracked fleeing insurgents regrouping on five motorcycles.
Another strike followed.
All five motorcycles were obliterated.
Ten more fighters were eliminated.
Ground troops advancing after the strikes recovered:
13 AK-47 rifles
16 loaded magazines
3 communication radios
stretchers used for evacuating casualties
shallow graves and heavy blood trails
However, the battle carried a cost one soldier died in action while others were evacuated by Army Aviation helicopters and are now stable.
Before the twin attacks, troops had already struck deep into insurgent territory.
Acting on weeks of surveillance and satellite intelligence, forces raided Lamusheri village in Gujba LGA identified as a key terrorist launch base.
Despite coming under fire on approach, troops outflanked the fighters and cut off escape routes.
The result was devastating:
15 terrorists killed
attack tricycles destroyed
two logistics vehicles burnt
arms and ammunition seized
defensive camps levelled
Survivors fled with gunshot wounds into surrounding bushes.
Military authorities say the failed attacks show insurgents are under severe operational stress and now resorting to desperate assaults.
The High Command praised troops for maintaining combat dominance and ordered sustained offensive pressure across the theatre.
Across one weekend, insurgents attempted infiltration, base overruns and coordinated assaults.
Across the same weekend, they lost fighters, weapons, vehicles and hideouts.
The message from the battlefield was blunt:
The terrorists came hunting.
They ended up hunted.
