By 247ureports.com
Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters attacked a military base in Mairari, also spelt Melari, in Borno State late on Tuesday into early Wednesday, and early reports say between seven and 20 members of the security forces were killed. The Nigerian Army had not issued a casualty figure when this report was filed.
A military source cited in one account said 15 soldiers and five members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) who were supporting the troops were killed, and that several soldiers were missing, raising fears that some may have been captured. Residents said the attackers arrived at about 10 p.m. and stayed in the area until daybreak after dislodging the troops, and that the base was heavily damaged. One resident suggested the attackers may have come from Gudumbali in the neighbouring Guzamala area. Another account puts the attack at about midnight and says it lasted more than two hours, with casualties on both sides. A third report, which says the insurgents burned several military vehicles, puts the soldiers killed at more than 10. The chairman of Guzamala Local Government Area, Umar Sheriff, confirmed the attack and said it was major, adding that no civilians were killed and that he did not yet have casualty statistics. Local sources told the same correspondent that seven soldiers were rumoured to have been killed, but that nobody could verify it.
The figures conflict, and 247ureports.com could not confirm any of them. Reports also differ on whether Mairari lies in Guzamala or Monguno Local Government Area. The military had not publicly commented on the attack at the time of this report.
The strike came days after a separate ISWAP assault on the 101 Special Forces Battalion in Kukawa on October 6, in which the Army said more than 25 insurgents were killed. It did not give its own losses, though military sources put the number of soldiers killed at eight. Mairari itself was hit in July, when troops lost two soldiers and a CJTF member in an ISWAP attack shortly after more than 950 households had returned to the community under a resettlement programme, and the military described the attack as an attempt to disrupt the return of residents.
The pattern of repeated assaults on military bases in the north-east, with troops reporting heavy losses for the insurgents and sources reporting heavy losses for soldiers, has renewed questions about the security situation in the Lake Chad region. The Army says its operations continue and that it kills many attackers in each encounter.
