Brig-Gen Braimah: How Boko Haram overran Army base in Borno<\/p>\n
There are fresh accounts emerging from the circumstances that led to the killing of the Commander of the 29 Task Force Brigade, Brig-Gen. Oseni Braimah, following a deadly three-hour midnight assault on an Army base at Benisheik, located along the 132-kilometre Maiduguri-Damaturu road in Borno state.<\/p>\n
The soldiers that survived the Thursday dawn attacks, described the incident, as one of the most coordinated and intense attacks in recent months of the ongoing counter-terrorism operations in the state.<\/p>\n
The Nigerian Army has, however, insisted that the attacks were successfully foiled and dismantled with heavy casualties and equipment failure.<\/p>\n
The claims of foiling the Benisheik-Ngamdu axis attacks, contradict the accounts from soldiers and residents that painted the picture of a coordinated insurgent offensive that overwhelmed troops, leaving significant destruction of life and property..<\/p>\n
The attack, which occurred around 12.30am on Thursday, was carried out by suspected Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters, who launched simultaneous assaults on multiple military positions in Benisheik, a strategic town in Kaga Local Government Area along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway.<\/p>\n
According to several eyewitnesses, who spoke with The Guardian, the insurgents advanced in large numbers, attacking at least three military formations before pushing into civilian areas, including Ngamdu community along the road.<\/p>\n
A soldier who survived the attack but requested anonymity, because he was not authorised to speak to journalists, described the scale and coordination of yerrorists as unprecedented.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are used to coordinated attacks, but this was different. They came in large numbers from different directions at the same time. It felt like they had studied our positions for weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The other survivor also admitted that the attackers had a numerical advantage, which affected the outcome of the troopss\u2019 engagement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stood our ground at first, but they were too many. They attacked from different angles. It was like an ambush,\u201d lamented the soldier.<\/p>\n
According to him, the troops morale began to drop as rumours spread that other locations had fallen and some soldiers killed.<\/p>\n
He further revealed: \u201cWhen we started hearing that our colleagues in other locations had been overrun, it shook us. Then someone shouted that the Brigade Commander was dead. That was when fear fully set in,\u201d<\/p>\n
The sudden confusion and psychological impact of the attack, another source in Maiduguri said, contributed to a breakdown in coordination among the ground troops, forcing some of the terrorists to retreat towards the town<\/p>\n
It was also reported that the fierce gun battle lasted more than an hour, with multiple explosions forcing both the military personnel and civilians to flee for safety.<\/p>\n
In the aftermath of the attack, claims emerged that Brigadier General Braimah was killed due to a malfunctioning Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle.<\/p>\n
However, military sources and individuals familiar with the late general disputed this claim.<\/p>\n
A highly placed source within the Brigade also described the claim as misleading.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe insurgents actually set the MRAP on fire during the attack, stating that he died because the vehicle didn\u2019t start is not accurate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation was far more complex,\u201d added the source<\/p>\n
Another insider of the troops suggested that only those who were with the late General at the moment of the attack could provide what he described as, an exact and definitive account, noting that many of them also died in the encounter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am aware that the insurgents closed in from various angles at the same time. It was like an ambush plan. But when the gun battle became intense, the terrorist formation scattered. What helped them was their numbers; there were too many of them,\u201d the source added.<\/p>\n
Corroborating the account, a former frontline driver to the late general, who identified himself simply as Defender, noted that Braimah\u2019s attitude towards operational vehicle maintenance was exemplary to other serving military officers at the Theatre Command of the Northeast.(Guardian)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brig-Gen Braimah: How Boko Haram overran Army base in Borno There are fresh accounts emerging from the circumstances that led to the killing of the Commander of the 29 Task Force Brigade, Brig-Gen. Oseni Braimah, following a deadly three-hour midnight assault on an Army base at Benisheik, located along the 132-kilometre Maiduguri-Damaturu road in Borno […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":150324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,424,16],"tags":[692,44,2871],"class_list":{"0":"post-150321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-security","9":"category-weird","10":"tag-boko-haram","11":"tag-borno-state","12":"tag-brig-gen-braimah"},"yoast_head":"\n