Metele Massacre: Military Death Toll Rises to 118, over 150 Missing

Makik Yahya/

Latest reports say the death toll in the Boko Haram attack on 157 Task Force Battalion, Metele in Borno State on November 18 has risen to 118.

New details obtained by PREMIUM TIMES also revealed that 153 soldiers are still missing in action as of November 24, nearly a week after the attack.

Those killed included the commander of the battalion, identified as Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Sakaba.

The second-in-command to the commander, the intelligence officer of the battalion and two other officers were amongst those killed by Boko Haram in the attack, which occurred at about 6pm last Sunday.

One of the other dead officers was identified by one of his friends in a Facebook post as Captain A. Ogbonna.

Nigerian Army authorities confirmed the attack in a statement released on Friday evening.

The army admits that it is operating in “trying times”, which is a rare if veiled admission that the military is experiencing serious setbacks in the fight against the jihadists, says BBC Africa editor Will Ross.

It added that “false casualty figures” and the sharing of inaccurate videos boost the “propaganda intent of the terrorists”.

There are still conflicting accounts of the deaths at the camp.

Reuters news agency quoted an army officer as saying earlier this week: “The insurgents took us unawares. We lost about 100 soldiers. It is a huge loss.”

On Monday, a Boko Haram faction loyal to the Islamic State group, known as the Islamic State West Africa Province, said it had carried out the attack and put the death toll at at least 40.

The Senate said 44 soldiers had died.

Nigerian soldiers lamented their neglect and the obsolete weapons they are using to prosecute the battle against the insurgents in a video that surfaced online yesterday.

No less than 100 plus soldiers died here. Many are missing in action, they are nowhere to be found,” said the soldier in the video, which was obtained by AFP from a military source who confirmed its authenticity.

“See the weapons they bring here. These are not working,” he said as the footage revealed the charred remains of tanks and other military equipment.

“These are outdated vehicles, they are not working. They just keep them here for formality,” said the soldier.

“Imagine, they are killing us every day,” he said. “The situation is getting worse.”

The video shows the sprawling camp in the middle of the desert, 260 kilometres (161 miles) from the Borno state capital of Maiduguri.

Watch video below:

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