Nigerian Army colonel killed in Boko Haram ambush

A Nigerian Army colonel has been killed in a Boko Haram ambush, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

PREMIUM TIMES is withholding the identity of the officer as we are not sure his family has been notified.

The colonel was also a brigade commander of an army brigade in Damboa, Borno State, where the military is battling the Boko Haram insurgents.

This newspaper learnt that the colonel and some soldiers were attacked, on Sunday, when their vehicle was ambushed near Damboa.

Damboa is about 85 kilometres from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Details of the attack are yet known, but an army source said the late colonel would be buried on Tuesday.

When contacted, the spokesman of the Nigeria Army, Sagir Musa, declined to confirm the attack but said a press statement would soon be released about an attack in Borno State.

Hundreds of soldiers and officers have been killed since the Boko Haram insurgency commenced in 2009. Tens of thousands of civilians have also been killed and millions of others displaced.

The military has, since 2016, been able to restrict the insurgents to three states, Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, although they still carry out attacks in those states.