Some soldiers fighting the Boko Haram insurgents in Baga have observed that they are not very comfortable with the use of artillery in the fight against Boko Haram.
According to them, they would have preferred using Rocket-propelled grenades,RPGs, because the machine does not only boost their morale but encourages them to fight.
One of the soldiers said, left for him, the artillery should be scrapped as even Boko Haram members do not fear the sound that it produces, but that they fear RPG.
“Last week when they brought RPGs, see how happy our guys were. We charged at the Boko Haram guys and killed over 100, but we lost 4 soldiers. In fact, it is better than before, when artillery will be firing but no target. This one, you will see how you are clearing the Boko Haram boys and you are sure you killed them,” the officer who spoke in pidgin English told our reporter.
Another one said, “three days ago at Durun Giwa, the insurgents came attacking us with mortar. They fired over hundred and arrested one Fulani man, and stripped him necked. They sent him to us to tell us that, we should be gathering all the weapons because they are coming to collect everything.”
According to him, they allowed the Fulani man to go back and tell the Boko Haram members that they were gathering the weapons, and that they should come and collect them.
He said, not long after the Fulani man left, the insurgents began to fire at them, but when they returned fire with the RPGs after about 30 minutes, the whole area was cleared of the insurgents.
The soldiers also said they respect the 103 battalion at Konduga and are happy with the decision of the military authority that soldiers would now spend two years at an assignment and be transferred, unlike before when they wouldn’t even know how long they would stay in a particular place.
Speaking about one of their officers who did not want to leave Maiduguri after he was transferred out of the state, the soldiers said, ”he did not want to live because he was never asked to go to the bush to fight, otherwise he would have appreciated God for the transfer.
According to them, if they are transferred out of Maiduguri, they would go and withdraw of their last penny for thanksgiving.
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