Sam Kaye
Insurgents in the theatre of Operation Hadin Kai are alleged to have introduced a spiritual or voodoo dimension into the war in a bid to reverse the marathon gains achievements of troops in recent times.
As strange as it sounds observers of the attack on troops of Operation Hadin Kai on Monday this week in Gamboru Ngala council area of Borno state alleged that the insurgents wired themselves traditionally to stem off the effects of live ammunition from troops who obviously had superior weapons they were yearning for.
This was why they were shooting at people and not taking them out as observed by civilian joint task force (CJTF) sources present in the battle and who narrated his experience with this reporter on phone.
The deadly attack by insurgents, suspected to be any of the two prominent factions of the insurgents, has left several military personnel dead in the Wolgo attack in Ngala council area of Borno state, north east Nigeria.
The assault which occurred around two am on Monday when the insurgents stormed the operational military base, was said to have been resisted at first until the insurgents over ran the base in spite of stiff resistance put up by troops.
Many residents were said to have fled across the border into the Cameroonian border community of Sairam, while others escaped to Gamboru, about three km from the community even as some sought refuge in the surrounding bushes to evade the new dimension of the war which was alien to some of them.
Our source who wished to remain anonymous alleged that the attackers exhibited unusual resilience, with bullets allegedly having no effect on them as it has been all these months of pin down by troops.
According to the source, this so called “spiritual bulletproof” protection, enabled the assailants to overpower the soldiers, leading to heavy casualties on the side of troops of Hadin Kai in a manner not seen for a long time in the last decade.
“Following intense Fighting in the wee hours of the morning, the Nigerian troops were forced to withdraw to Gamboru, allowing the insurgents to seize military platforms of our troops and that of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) mounted at the operational base before the attack.” Said the source.
As at the time of filing this report, there were no confirmed reports of civilian casualties or losses among the CJTF except that of the Galant troops which littered the entire base as images from the scene also reportedly showed battered assets of the military after the invaders had pulled out of the zone.
While the attack on Wolgo town by the insurgents has left quite a handful of troops losses, sources on both sides of the theatre declined the release of the exact number of troops saying that the families of those affected must be informed before their names can be mentioned.
Laying his claims to what he saw in pitch darkness while taking cover in the savannah, another CJTF source who also pleaded anonymity went on: “That thing I saw with my own eyes is a new dimension because most of the attackers were having that spiritual bulletproof. Bullets was not killing them, it was real because I know my father fortified me too in that pattern which is why I could pick them out in the dark.
“The bullets of our troops couldn’t kill them at all and that was how they started advancing and taking out our troops after they successfully penetrated the base. But I believe the bottom line was to have access to Superior weapons which was in the armory of the base and they succeeded in doing just that.
“The military eventually withdrew to Gomboru town and that gave them the opportunity to evacuate equipment belonging to troops of Hadin Kai and the MNJTF. I don’t know how the theatre will handle this but this incident was a dark one in our existence here as a squad” said our source.
The Nigerian government has been fighting this insurgency war for over 15 years with the terrorists hindering so much progress within the North East Nigerian BAY states of Borno Adamawa and Yobe states.(www.krestnews.com).