This will be the fourth time in the last 30 days the group will be destroying vehicles it captured from Nigerian security operatives.
Militants belonging to the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād, have destroyed an Isotrex Phantom two Armed Personnel Carrier, a bulldozer and a hilux vehicle the group captured from Nigerian soldiers.
According to ISWAP in a statement sighted by SaharaReporters, the vehicles were captured on Saturday when the group ambushed some Nigerian soldiers along Goniri-Gorigi Road in Borno State.
The group also claimed to have wounded and killed many soldiers.
SaharaReporters had earlier reported how the insurgents killed six soldiers who were returning from a clearance operation along the road.
“The terrorists fired a rocket-propelled grenade on the convoy which hit one of the vehicles with about eight soldiers in it, six of them died while two others were injured,” a source had said.
Another source, a captain in the Nigerian army confirmed the attack, calling it a huge setback for the military.
This will be the fourth time in the last 30 days the group will be destroying vehicles it captured from Nigerian security operatives.
The insurgents had on February 3 destroyed two operational patrol vehicles belonging to the Nigeria Police Force.
The insurgents last month also destroyed a Isotrex Phantom 2 APC it captured from Nigerian soldiers.
This was barely three days after the group displayed a modified FV103 Spartan APC it also captured from the military.
SaharaReporters gathered that the APCs were recently acquired by the Nigerian Army for the newly launched operation tagged ‘Tura Takaibango’ in the North-East theatre of operation, comprising Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
Chief of Training and Operations, Nigerian army, Major General Nuhu Angbazo, who launched the operation on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff on January 7, 2021, said the operation would boost the efforts of troops of Theatre Command Operation Lafiya Dole to enable the army to deal with the emerging threats of the Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in North-East.
Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province, have killed thousands and displaced millions of people in northeastern Nigeria.
Nigerian army has repeatedly claimed that the insurgency has been largely defeated and frequently underplays any losses.
In the past months, soldiers have been targeted by the insurgents, who lay in ambush for them.
The Boko Haram insurgency has caused over 40,000 deaths and displaced millions of individuals mainly in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
The terror group wants an Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria.