BARELY two weeks after Lieutenant-Colonel Muhammed Abu Ali was killed in Maiduguri, another Lieutenant-Colonel was, on Tuesday morning, killed in Adamawa State by Boko Haram terrorists.
Lieutenant-Colonel B. U. Umar was killed about 9.30 a.m. in Bita, while eight soldiers suffered various degrees of injury.
Bita is close to Madagali and Michika in the northern axis of Adamawa State.
Informed military sources disclosed to the Nigerian Tribune that Lieutenant-Colonel Umar, who was until his death the commanding officer 114 task force battalion, was ambushed by the Boko Haram terrorists.
The source revealed that the battalion, while on a regular patrol, had encountered some improvised explosive device and cleared it on the way, but were later ambushed, while the army officer was the only one who died in the ambush.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the situation report had already been communicated to the Army headquarters in Abuja
Meanwhile the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has carried out a recent attack on Boko Haram insurgents’ location on the outskirts of Malkonori in northern Borno State.
The latest attack was a follow-up to the close air support operation that repelled the insurgents who attacked ground forces at Kangarwa.
Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Force, Group Captain Ayodele Famuyiwa, in a statement in Abuja, on Tuesday, said survivors among the insurgents had fled to Dogochuku, where they were also attacked by NAF fighter aircraft and forced to relocate to Malkonori.
According to him, ground forces confirmed a number of the insurgents were killed and their vehicle destroyed from the latest air strike at Malkonori.