Senior military sources have confirmed
that Nigerian soldiers have sacked Boko
Haram insurgents from Alagarno, a town
in Damboa local government area and
one of the group’s strongholds.
Sources who spoke to Sahara reporters also
confirmed that the routed insurgents were
fleeing, adding that he believed their
leader, Abubakar Shekau, was among those
now on the run.
Boko Haram leader Shekau making an
address in a video on February 17, 2015.
The military source also added that the
insurgents were driven out of the town in a
military operation in which the Nigerian
military used sustained air bombardment
for several days. “After our troops had
softened them [the insurgents] up through
aerial bombing, our ground troops then
moved in for a fierce gun battle and drove
them away,” the source disclosed in an
interview late last night.
The officer disclosed that hundreds of the
Islamist fighters were killed in the
operation. According to him, hundreds
more of the insurgents were now on the
run. The officer added that Mr. Shekau, the
Islamist sect’s mercurial leader, was likely
among those running away from the
advancing troops.
“We are happy that we have reclaimed
Alagarno, the second most important
stronghold of Boko Haram. Their leader
(Shekau) was able to escape, but hundreds
of militants were killed or captured by our
troops,” the source said.
The source said that the general officer
commanding the 7th Division of Nigeria
Army, Major General Lamidi Adeosun, went
yesterday to Alagarno to boost the morale
of soldiers.
Alagarno, which is located in the southern
part of Borno State, is near Sambisa forests
where the Islamist group first took more
than 200 schoolgirls they abducted from
the town of Chibok in Borno State. The
town is approximately 130 miles from
Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.
The military source described Alagarno as “a
village that Boko Haram made deadly,’
adding that the insurgents once had seven
checkpoints and numerous bunkers in the
town. “All their checkpoints and bunkers
were destroyed. And we are now moving
close to capture Sambisa [forest] very
soon,” the officer said.

www.naij.com/415392-boko-haram-stronghold-taken-over-nigerian-troops.html

k