SUNDAY TIMES WEB DESK: An army statement said the attackers ambushed a military convoy late Monday on a highway linking Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, with Damaturu in neighbouring Yobe state.
“Sadly, 13 military and a police personnel… paid the supreme price while extricating themselves from the ambush,” said the statement, signed by local military spokesman Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu.
The attack followed an attempted raid on a nearby military base along the highway in Kukareta village, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Damaturu, Nwachukwu said.
That attack was “repelled” by troops who “engaged and overpowered the terrorists, killing several of them”, Nwachukwu said, adding that a soldier was injured.
Other security sources said fighters travelling in eight trucks fitted with anti-aircraft guns had overrun the base.
They took over the military base after overpowering troops and burnt it down. A policeman was killed when their vehicle which was heading to Damaturu ran into crossfire but the driver escaped unhurt,” the military source said.