Troops kill insurgents ‘responsible’ for bombing of IDP camp

Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, says troops have killed 15 Boko Haram fighters, who were part of insurgents responsible for the mistaken deployment of rockets on an internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camp in Rann, Borno state.

Speaking when he paid a visit to troops of 3 Battalion, Buratai said two days after the accident, Boko Haram fighters returned to Rann in two gun trucks, but were repelled by the soldiers.

He said while one insurgent, suspected to be a foreigner, was captured, others escaped with one gun truck.

He added that the troops recovered the other truck with weapons, including one General Purpose Machine Gun, three AK47 and ammunition.

He regretted that the weapons mistakenly hit IDP camps in the town, killing over 50 civilians and wounding many others.

“Two of our soldiers were also affected in the unfortunate incident,” Buratai said.

He described the incident as unfortunate and big mistake.

“We have all learnt lessons from it,” he said.

“We will take note of this; the issue of coordination and passage of the right information will help to prevent such incident again.

“It is a mistake which can happen and it has happened in other places. We pray it never happen again.”

Buratai urged troops not to allow the unfortunate incident to demoralise them.

He charged them to remain committed, dedicated and patriotic, assuring them that their efforts would be rewarded.

The chief of army staff also met with elders of the community and condoled with them over the ncident.

2016. Omoke, commanding officer of 3 Battalion, said Rann was one of the last towns retaken from the insurgents on March 22, 2016.

He said since the town was captured, insurgents had made five failed attempts to attack Rann but never succeeded.

The town is the headquarters of Kala Balge local government area of Borno. It is 175km from Maiduguri, the state capital, and 8km to Cameroon.