Troops kill Boko Haram commander, 27 others in Borno

A Boko Haram Commander, Alhaji Modu, also known as ‘Bem Bem’, and 27 other insurgents have been killed by troops of the Air Task Force (ATF) Operation Hadin Kai in Borno State.

It was leant that the terrorist’s commander and fighters were killed on August 3 by military airstrikes around the Mandara mountains in the Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.

According to sources within the military high command, the operation followed credible intelligence reports that the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters were converging in large numbers with the intention to conduct attacks.

Bem Bem, it was also learnt was a popular drug baron who went into armed robbery before joining the Boko Haram sect.

Sources said he commandeered the displacement of Bama town in 2014 and the killing of hundreds of persons before declaring it a Boko Haram caliphate.

Before his death, he worked under the supervision of a top leader of the Boko Haram terrorist Ali Ngoshe and they were hiding inside caves in Mandara Mountain from where they coordinated attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon, and the Niger Republic.

Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, recently charged NAF operational commanders to ‘show no mercy’ on terrorists, urging them to always employ maximum firepower against enemies who have been posing security threats to the country.