Thursday, 9 April 2026
Insurgents from the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram killed a senior Nigerian Army officer and several soldiers in a fierce overnight attack on a Joint Task Force base in Borno State, military sources have confirmed.
The assault took place on Wednesday night at the military facility in Benisheikh, Kaga Local Government Area. Brigadier-General O. O. Braimah, commander of the 29 Brigade, was among those killed, along with the brigade’s Islamic cleric (Imam) and an as-yet unconfirmed number of other officers and soldiers.
Military sources told SaharaReporters that the militants launched the attack using explosives and sustained heavy gunfire, which lasted several hours. “He was killed last night along with the Imam of the Brigade, many officers and soldiers,” one source said. “The attack lasted several hours. The camp is Benishek along Damaturu Road; it’s very unfortunate.”
A second source identified the slain commander as “Brig. Gen. O.O. Braimah, 29 Brig Commander in Benishek,” confirming he died alongside other senior staff officers.
In addition to those confirmed dead, a number of soldiers were seriously injured and an unknown number remain missing, the sources added. The exact death toll has yet to be officially verified.
The attack is the latest in a series of coordinated and increasingly bold strikes by Boko Haram and its ISWAP faction on military and police installations across Borno State. In recent weeks, the insurgents have targeted security forces in multiple locations, killing soldiers, police officers and civilians.
In March, Boko Haram fighters launched simultaneous assaults on three military bases in Baga, Buratai and Ajilari, near Maiduguri, in an apparent attempt to destabilise forward operating positions and undermine troop morale. Although reinforcements from the Nigerian Army, Air Force and Civilian Joint Task Force eventually repelled the attackers, the raids highlighted the militants’ ability to strike across several fronts at once.
Around the same period, ISWAP-linked fighters also overran a forward operating base near Banki junction on the Bama–Gwaza Road, killing an army major and several soldiers after hours of intense fighting.
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