Weeks Of Calmness Pervade Northern Borno Since ISWAP Suffered Major Defeat in Gajiram Faceoff
ISWAP may have loosen grip of its former stronghold around Kukawa, Nganzai, Gubio and Abadam axis as recent exploits of government troops seemed to reduce their hostilities
Two major commanders of ISWAP who led what could have been another big attack on Gajiram village in Nganzai local government of northern Borno were gunned down alongside many other terrorists in November when. troops of the Nigeria military staged uncommon gallantry, credible sources informed The Humanitarian Times.
For about three weeks now, the general area of northern Borno border communities, usually a hotbed for hostilities have enjoyed rare calmness.
The Gajiram attack occurred on November, 21 2021.
After suffering the defeat that accounted for the deaths of nearly two dozens of ISWAP gunmen, plus two commanders, who were taken out by air strike from the Nigeria Air Force jet, the terrorists fled in different directions as troop of Forward Operations Base (FOB) Gajiram chased after them.
The Humanitarian Times learnt that the terrorists arrived Gajiram through Kunli Village road, while some others appeared from the Eastern flank of the village.
While troops stood their ground, an air component of Operation Hadin Kai Aggressor jet that was immediately scrambled arrived in minutes and began to dust off the the adversary force.
Words went round the general area that two top commanders that led the foiled assault were also smoked out by the Aggressor.
“At least 21 bodies were counted, while the Jet neutralized many others that could not be accounted for,” a source familiar with the incident told The Humanitarian Times.
Pained by the colossal loss they suffered, a pocket of terrorists regrouped and returned to Gajiram on a ‘do or die’ mission of retrieving the corpse of their slain members especially those of their commanders. But it turned out another failed mission as troops of FOB Gajiram cleared their doubts once again.
Boko Haram has an unchanged habit of making sure they take and concealed their deaths after fights with troops.
Since after the incident, things went calm around the general area as ISWAP, apparently thrown into another sub leadership crisis, went underground.
However the gallant troops of Sector 3 comprising of FOB Gajiram, 242Battalion, 19 Brigade Garrison Kekeno, and 401 Special Force Brigade Kross Kauwa continued to maintain their vigilance and patrol operations ensuring returning IDPs are protected and settled in their new homes.
The Humanitarian Times had recently gathered that in continuation of the routine surveillance, the Sector Commander of Sector-3 Brigadier General Mukut had recently led a clearance operation on Thursday to at Kukawa general area and the operation was said to be “hitch free as no contact was made with any terrorists group.
This ambience of calm has so far bolstered the Borno state government return efforts in returning IDP in Maiduguri to their reclaimed homes. In the past there weeks traders along routes like Maiduguri-Gamboru, Maiduguri-Monguno, and Maiduguri-Gubio had had hitch free trips mostly without military escorts.
