Troops of the Nigerian Army have killed a top commander of the Boko Haram terrorist group identified as Abubakar Sarki.
He was killed within the fringes of the Sambisa forest in Borno State while he was leading some other fighters to attack a camp of the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) led by Abu Ubaida.
The development was made known by a security and counter-insurgency expert, Zagazola Makama who narrated to newsmen in Maiduguri that there was a fierce battle between the soldiers of Operation Hadin Kai and the terrorists during the encounter.
He added that the troops acting on intelligence information about the movement of terrorists in the area, attacked the Boko Haram fighters.
He said Sarki and his men were heading to an ISWAP camp in the area to engage in a battle of supremacy before they were intercepted by the troops.
Initially, Sarki escaped but ran onto another batch of soldiers deployed by the military.
“A ground assessment confirmed that three gun trucks with all their occupants were completely destroyed, while the remaining five vehicles and terrorists including Abubakar Sarki escaped.
“But luck ran out of them as troops after sighting a moving convoy conveying Abubakar Sarki and an unconfirmed number of fighters, the army deployed a massive artillery gun resulting in devastating hits on the terrorists.” He said.
Makama further revealed that the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division, Nigerian Army and Commander Sector 1 North East Operation HADIN KAI (OPHK), Maj Gen Waidi Shaibu, led the successful operations on Saturday.
The troops are not relenting as they are in pursuit of some of the terrorists who escaped during the gun battle and others still in the various hideouts.
This article was originally published on Nigeria News