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Salkida describes invasion of Yobe military base as deadliest in anti-Boko Haram war

BY Ebunoluwa Olafusi

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Ahmed Salkida, an investigative journalist, says never in the history of the war against insurgency has the military recorded the kind of loss it did on Saturday when insurgents invaded a military base in Yobe state.

The militants, dressed in military apparel and armed with sophisticated weapons, wreaked havoc on the military facility in Jilli, a village in Yobe.

Over 600 soldiers are still missing after the attack, according to Daily Trust.

The newspaper quoted a source as saying the base had about 750 troops manning it before the invasion.

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The facility was established to contain the movement of Boko Haram insurgents along the Chad Basin.

In a tweet on Thursday, Salkida said the nation ought to mourn the tragedy that soldiers suffered.

“There should be a national mourning. Never before in the #LakeChad crisis has the military been caught on the wrong footing as is evident in latest #ISWAP attack in Jilli. There’s a grave sense of despair among officers and men. The toll is staggering, says multiple sources,” he wrote.

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The siege on Jilli came after an ambush of a military convoy by alleged Boko Haram fighters in Borno state left some military operatives and vigilantes dead.

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