Troops of Operation Lafiya Dole at the weekend killed 15 Boko Haram terrorists who were part of the group that relocated to Rann and caused the mistaken air strike by the Nigerian Air Force in Rann, on Tuesday.
A terrorists suspect was also arrested who turned out to be a foreigner.
Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, confirmed the killing and capture of the terrorists in Rann on Friday, when he paid an operational visit to troops of 3 Batallion.
The COAS said the insurgents launched another attack on the town in two gun trucks on Thursday at about 6p.m. but were repelled by the soldiers, who killed 15, while others escaped with one gun truck.
Buratai added that the troops recovered the other truck with weapons, including one General Purpose Machine Gun, three AK47 and ammunitions.
Emphasizing that Tuesday’s incident in which the Air Force component of the Operation Lafiya Dole based on intelligence that the terrorists had infiltrated Rann with intent to attack, deployed rockets, he regretted that the weapons mistakenly hit IDPs camps in the town, killing over 50 civilians and wounding many others.
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“Two of our soldiers were also affected in the unfortunate incident” Buratai said.
He described the incident as unfortunate and big mistake. “We have all learnt lessons from it. “We will take note of this; the issue of coordination and passage of the right information will help to prevent such incident again.
“It is a mistake which can happen and it has happened in other places. We pray it never happen again,” he said. While addressing the troops, Buratai urged them not to allow the unfortunate incident to demoralise them.
He charged them to remain committed, dedicated and patriotic, assuring them that their efforts would be rewarded.
The chief of army staff also met with elders of the community and condoled with them over the incident. Commanding Officer of 3 Battalion, Lt.-Col. I. P. Omoke disclosed that Rann was one of the last towns retaken from the insurgents on March 22, 2016.
Omoke said since then, the terrorists had made five failed attempts to attack the town but never succeeded.
Rann, the headquarters of Kala Balge Local Government Area of Borno, is 175km from Maiduguri and 8km to the Republic of Cameroon.
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