Army commander feared dead as troops clash with ‘ISWAP fighters’ in Rann

A commanding officer in one of the battalions of operation Hadin Kai has been killed by suspected fighters of the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), sources have told TheCable.

The senior officer was said to have been killed alongside five soldiers when the insurgents attacked Rann, a town in Kala Balge LGA of Borno state on Thursday.

The troops were said to have engaged the insurgents who came in their numbers, and the the gunfight lasted many hours.

About 20 ISWAP fighters were also reportedly killed by the troops.

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Onyema Nwachukwu, army spokesman, was not immediately available to comment on the attack.

The incident comes three weeks after ISWAP fighters killed Dzarma Zirkusu, a brigadier-general and commander of the army brigade in Chibok.

Zirkusu was on his way to Askira to provide support for the troops when he was ambushed and killed.

The general was killed alongside three soldiers.

“Sadly, a gallant senior officer brigadier-general Dzarma Zirkusu and three soldiers paid the supreme sacrifice in a very rare display of gallantry as they provided reinforcement in a counteroffensive against the terrorists, and successfully defended the location,” Nwachukwu had said in a statement.

TheCable