PHOTO CREDIT: POINTBLANK NEWS
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25 April, 2014
Over 40 terrorists have been killed in a gunfight with the military forces in the outskirts of Bulabulin, Borno State on Thursday night.
The encounter was confirmed in a statement by the spokesman for the military,Major General Chris Olukolade on Friday. He said that the fight was
triggered by the capture of a number of terrorists believed to be the ringleaders of those operating around Alagarmo.
According to the statement, four soldiers lost their lives and nine were wounded. More than 16 rifles and a
substantial number of assorted
calibres of ammunition, Improvised Explosive Device (IED) materials, SIM cards and electronic items were also recovered from the group.
“Two of the terrorists were earlier arrested at a local market two days ago while trying to procure foodstuff while others were spying on the
military base in the area. “Others still being trailed include a terrorist medic who was on a mission to procure drugs for use by his colleagues,” the
statement read.
Bulabulin is between Alagarmo and Sambisa Forest where the terrorists have been attempting to establish a stronghold in their campaign.Offensives against the insurgents
have increased, after the Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, asked the military to rid the forests of the terrorists that have been terrorising villages in the northeast.
In one of the recent attacks by
suspected members of the Boko Haram in Chibok, a town in the
border between Borno and Adamawa States, the terrorists abducted over 200 girls from a Government Girls Secondary School.
Beegeagle's Blog 
Good job! But more needs to be done, i think the government is probably trying to get the girls released through back channels. It is important that the troops come out tops in all encounters with the insurgents.
After the Chibok fiasco, how are we sure this report is even true…
Stop a spoilt child, would you !
Stop acting like a spoilt child, would you !
I am very disturbed by the huge numbers of insurgents roaming around in spite of the numbers killed in action on a daily basis, how many are they ? what is their recruitment strategy and how successful is their recruitment method ?
I don’t know if we are going to win this war. The Bokos are just too many and too stealthy. The more we kill them, the more they appear again like the uncountable Chinese army that never die finish.
Where are the Nigerian army made spy balllons that Major General Tijani told us we have ? Where are our 12 UAVs ? Why does our Hind and Terminator helicopter gunships fail to appear during Boko attacks ? I don’t know why a Hind with gun pod and rockets carrying a squad of soldiers cannot appear in 20 minutes at a village under attack. Bokos stay and operate for hours sometimes and nobody challenges them.
The Bokos are looking too stealthy for us now. So sad.
They are terrorists, and unless you are unfamiliar with how terrorists work, then there shouldn’t be anything new in their methods for you. And yes we are winning and are going to win this war. I think you need to take a break in your commehnting till when your head is back to its right place
How did you arrive at a UAV figure of 12?
Our Aerostar UAVs are not operational as far as I know.
The only UAVs we have are the Gulmas – and they have never been used in combat.
Based on what one of our bloggers have said, the Gulmas will be introduced into combat in may.
Balloons are elements of a static defense. They can be used to defend Lagos or Maiduguri, but not in the Sambisia forest.
And you can’t blindly drop a squad of 12 soldiers into an unknown combat situation – your situational awareness must be close to 100% before you can inject a small force of men into a remote combat zone.
You are right, the gunships seems to be missing in action.
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like once BH took out the gunships that were based in Maiduguri airport, Bornu state “lost” it’s allocation of gunships and they have never being replaced.
There is something professionally wrong with the way, our military and politicans are prosecuting this war, and I don understand why!!!
If this is how Nigerians react to good news, then just how do they react to bad news ?
@igbi, we are just fed up, you don’t know the depth of the Boko issue because it has not touched your family, I have many blood relations in the north. Killing 40 Bokos means nothing, we have killed thousands before now. The Chief of Defense staff promised to end Boko war this month April, then Abuja/Nyanya is bombed, over 100 school girls captured to become Boko wives, if na your blood sister how you go feel ?
Let’s put sentiment apart, in reality on ground this war has affected some of us than others. You have not tasted what I have tasted through Boko inflicted damages.
I won’t post my personal/family matters here.
I was born in a military base in Kano, and I do have relatives in the north.
What you should understand is that your input here should be only your rational thought, not your irrational sentimental and very personal misthought. That helps nobody. I have made that same mistake before and that is why I gave you that advice.
In difficult times like this, we need cold blood to move forward. By the way, Nyanya is not in Abuja. And kidnapping little girls is easy. Governor shettima and the school principal have questions to answer about why that school was open. I think those girls were set up by either the principal either someone in the governor’s office.
I am getting really worried about you.
Either you are in your early twenties and not too exposed or you are lacking vital male biological characteristics (testosterone) which makes you think and argue like a young woman in her late teens. Is the truth that difficult for you to come to terms with or has someone put ideas into your head that patriotism is the same as cheerleading failing institutions onto their destruction?.
You want Beegeagle to be a Nigerian Armed Forces Admiration Society?… fine but I keep saying that we want that as well but let us do that by also offering the critiques, offer suggestions, give constructive criticisms and realistic analyses instead of merely behaving like innocent, wide eyed, bushy tailed, un-initiated young spectators on the field of play.
When we heard the news of new platforms coming for the NAF we praised that institution to high heavens. Already we are falling over ourselves to cheer the NN who keep surprising us pleasantly everyday.
The moment the online readership of this blog begin to see shallowness, loss of edginess, blind support and lack of objective analysis is the day you see the readership and online ratings drop to the lowest levels ever. Even the readership from the Nigerian Armed forces will lose interest.
Everyone is saying here that the Nigerian armed forces should be the strongest, most effective in Africa, pride of Africa and we are not getting that and all you do is defend the status quo blindly.
We are saying generals are not pulling their weight, that they are over-civilianised, over politicized and frontline troops are not being equipped enough, platforms are not being deployed fast enough, that there is corruption everywhere,that technology is not adequate to support the war effort and all, you DO IS POIR INSULTS AND INVECTIVES UPON ANYBODY MAKING CONTRIBUTIONS.
Please get a grip on your raging emotions, re channel your commendable patriotism to seeking the never ending best for your country and its army and stop being effeminately emotional against hard headed. eagle eyed and grim observers whom are driven by the same level of patriotism.
Don’t talk to me, I haven’t read what you wrote and I am not going to read it. I do not belong to your beer parlour so I don’t understand your languages nor do I understand your flimsy logics. Keep writing, because words are cheap, much cheaper than beer.
Omo sorry O ! (Oga Augustine)
I really feel for our civilians in the midst of this mess.
My concern for real Nigerians is what has motivated most of my un popular opinions on this blog.
It is clear that all Nigerians are not equally aggrieved in this war.
However, as one Nigeria, we must show empathy to our affected citizens.
I experienced this piss poor attitude during the mend crisis, unaffected Nigerians seemed not to give a damn.
Where is Sonny Okosun and his patriotic music when you need him ?
Igbi stop being delusional and face the truth. It seems you don’t understand the extent the irreparable damage the chibok fiasco did to the image of the NA.
I don’t understand why the NA with recoiless rifles, RPGs, Artillery, Shilkas and Heavy Machine guns should have to wait for an overworked Alpha Jet to engage the enemy first before they move in.
I don’t understand how insurgents can move in convoys from point A to point B, operate for hours and return back to base unmolested.
And now the NA tried to deceive Nigerians about a rescue attempt that never took place and you dare compare me to a spoilt child.
Guy pack well joor….
It seems you are among those who tend to see the army like a street gang, rushing into rumbles. Wars are planned, before soldiers enter a scene they must follow orders and their superiors are giving them orders according to plans which would cause minimum casualty on their side, so that being said, providing air cover for the troops is not out of line. And your story of terrorists operating during hours in locations and getting back to their hideouts unchallenged begs for this question: is it possible for us to post soldiers on each square meter of our country ? Answer that question.
Igbi with surveillance technology (which we have), intelligence and rapid deployment, we do not need to place soldiers on every square metre of territory. Just like Oga James has pointed out, we lack the political will to aim for BH’s jugular.
I think we are still training personnel on the use of that equipment and I think we are still strategising on the use of that equipment. You know the equipment is very new to us.
I am supportive of every possible option the government applies to get the get the girls back unharmed. This is one very big disaster and there is no use going into denial about it.
The country has almost infinite military capabilities to prosecute the war but selfish parochialism and divisions on the part of people at various governmental levels is hampering the deployment of these capabilities.
First there is technology:
Free satellite pictures of Sambisa coming from American satellites every 24 hours, interception of BH communications by Nigerian, Israeli, US and UK agencies, overflies by American drones from Niger Republic and then we have Nigerian satellites, Nigerian UAVs, Nigerian surveillance aircraft.
Human assets: local hunters, CJTF, clerics who can talk to BH, senators who have paid protection money to BH, possible break up of Bah ranks on account of this kidnapping, psychologically separating the zealots from the paid mercenaries and exerting divisive pressure, use of money, use of medical and narcotic drug supplies to gain leverage, use of BH prisoners as bargaining chips,many other human assets we can use to penetrate and spy the group.
There are so many ways the traditional Nigeria ingenuity could have been applied to penetrate and destroy this group but none has been applied so far, because this is Nigeria. there is only one explanation – MONEY.
1.0The North East does not matter to the FG because the petro- dollars are not coming from there. Go to the ND and see well equipped and well fed soldiers guarding facilities and expatriates.
2.The generals are not willing to strike the decisive blows because of pecuniary considerations.
They have and will keep deceiving our elected leader who has his own challenges in performance management. However, soon the national and international disgrace to the Nigerian military institution will spark a serious backlash and then questions will start to be asked about what has been happening with military expenditures, why generals are leaving service as billionaires, why have we being paying so much relative to equipment purchases compared with other countries.
they might even be negotiating prisoner swap with these boko yeye.
the army has too many asset to still be getting jumped by BH. with proper Utilization of hardware with good tactics, these vermin should have been pushed completely into neighbouring countries.
also, D’HQ needs to find a way to tackle the menace of army fatigues being used by boko yeye in their attacks. civilians know very little about military orbat. and even experts can be fooled too. the fact that NA has not standardize battledress to particular theartre is not helping either.
I now adopt Boko Yeye as my official name for the enemy.
As we criticize the Armed Forces, Let’s not forget that the only good guys fighting and dying in this war are the Nigerian Armed Forces – other Nigerian have to find ways to support the Armed Forces since we can’t all be in the frontlines at the same time.
If the Armed Forces have failings, they are typical Nigerian failings, and most Nigerians have the same failings.
Our criticisms are bounded. Leadership only.
Nothing but admiration for the men doing the grunt work and risking their lives, like those who were assaulted on multiple sides by boko yeye and still killed 40 of the enemy even without air support.
SPOT ON !!!( @ ARE JAMES)
The problem is that we Nigerians have made criticism a pastime so much so that it has become second nature.
I sense that this is Igbi’s frustration.
We are at war!!! While there will be casualties relatives or not, surrender is not an option. Thus we must ultimately support the efforts of our boys (and leaders). Defeatist talk is bound to be received in the wrong way.
I agreed sometimes the choices our armed forces make come across as confusing to those of us on the outside, either because they are outrightly crazy (as they are many a time) or because we are not privy to certain information (and we cannot expect to be privy to all info when we are not the National Sec. Adviser).
However, as much as possible can we try to preserve the firepower for BH, they are the real enemy, not fellow cyber Gens on this forum.
Okay, we must support our troops.
The NA is doing very well, they are all heroes. All the generals are marvellous, we need to award GCON at least for each of them. The enemy will be vanquished next week. The air force is attacking well and giving good ground support. All of Nigeria’s military equipment are adequate and fit for purpose. Frontline troops are very happy, they don’t even feel like leaving the front. Special forces will soon kill Shekau.
Oga Ozed, ( and to beegeagle’s bloggers)
There is such a thing as the spirit in which one is being criticized.
Even the soldiers at the front can tell if one has their best interest at heart.
But rather than have a discerning spirit about the rendered criticisms, some bloggers just want to control other people’s opinions in the name of the troops or patriotism.
I am sure our soldiers find this lack of sophistication very condescending.
In a democracy, even in a war situation, our constructive criticisms of our leadership and our institutions, are our best contributions to it.
Our criticisms shows love for our nation, rather than hate.
Now as bloggers, we can challenge each other.
The spirit in which one criticizes.
Is it fair criticism, constructive criticism,or mere insults etc. etc.
But anyone taking the position that our institutions as is should be above criticism is frankly out of their minds.
Oga Are James said it best, we are all patriots here. We all want Nigeria to win.
That fact is already established.
For those that started blogging yesterday, I suggest you research the archives of this blog.
That is what I did when I joined beegeagle’s blog. It would give you a better perspective on your fellow bloggers.
Let’s focus on topics, ideas, and institutions, and NOT on an individuals right to opine.
Criticize the opinion all you like, but you should never say shut the fcuk up to another blogger.
I don’t think you know the meaning of the word criticism. You shouldn’t confuse criticism with insults and accusations which are unfit for for a war situation. But all this is understandable coming from you since you are only building a case for your PMCs. I just wonder how much they pay you.
Sir Ozed, these guys will never learn. They don’t even anticipate the consequences of their actions. Destroying the moral of the is a natural thing to do for them. I can, only imagine how boko haram propaganda team is rejoicing by reading some comments here.
The worse thing is that some of them think they are being intelligent …
When an illiterate thinks he is Albert Einstein, there is nothing you can tell him to stop the insanity. Mr PMC is giving the clueless the thumbs up, because they are helping him build a case for his PMCs.
Oh and regarding the view that the Nigerian army should never get jumped by BH. Lets bear in mind the following salient facts:
1. The BH has sufficient links to Al Qaeda and received technical advise and material support from them
2. The insurgent by definition has the prerogative of being the initiator of must contacts. Thus they can select time, place, target etc. to maximize surprise. Note that surprise means advantage in numbers, volume of arms and ammunition until a response can be organized
3. Superior, better equipped armed forces e.g. US Army et al continue to get surprised in Afghanistan and Iraq in spite of all their resources. Let us not place unreasonable expectations on the shoulders of our men to avoid disappointment. Don’t forget you only introduced these soldiers to formal anti insurgent training barely 1-2 years ago. They are hardly at the level of the US Rangers or the green Berets.
Its really tough, but lets cut them some slack by criticizing them softly softly.
If I might offer my 2 cents again ogas; I cannot over emphasis the need for a massive intelligence warfare that includes;
1) Paid BH informers
2) Local intelligence (local residents of the area)
3) DSS and NIA infiltration of BH
4) foreign intelligence liaison ( Cameroon, Niger, US, France)
5) Massive daily deployment of UAVs
6) Live feeds of Satellite imaging over the entire theatre of operation.
7) And yes….boots on the ground Helos and Jets in the air.
It is imperative to understand COIN is not a static strategy but is very fluid and dynamic based on unique circumstances. For example the US has been causing serious damages to AQ by constantly eliminating their commanders thereby leaving the group continuously guessing and decimated. This couldn’t have been possible without effective intelligent work….we can learn from them.
Can anyone explain why our army cannot use 10 men to defeat 50 Bokos? Are we deploying inadequate firepower? Could we use our BTR-3U in IFV mode?
I think we should have a garrison of 10 men in every village and a garrison of 100 men in every local government in all Boko affected states of Nigeria. Also every state should have 2 Hinds on standby for close air support and landing of reinforcement assault troops when there is a distress call and response time should be about 20 minutes to arrive in the red zone.
I don’t agree with the idea that we cannot insert troops by air until we get 100% information of what is happening in a village under attack, by the time you get that 100% update, Boko has finished 100% of its objective and disappeared into thin air as usual.
Soldiers cannot save people without getting into the heat. Anti-robbery policemen who do a good job don’t get 100% information before they arrive on your street in response to a distress call.
Should we build special improvised IFV by mounting one 20mm cannon, one 12.7mm gun, and one rapid fire multiple grenade launcher on 500 units of up-armoured Toyota 4X4 Hilux vehicles? Could we buy 500 units of the small sized new rapid fire grenade launchers from South Africa?
I don’t see 50 Bokos surviving that kind of firepower from 10 NA guys in the 4×4 Hilux.
US army is good at using one squadron of soldiers to defeat one enemy platoon, winning fire-fights when out-numbered ratio 1:5. They did very well in the battle of Mogadishu, heavily out-numbered, took casualties, inflicted 30 times more human loss on the enemy.
Is our firepower level adequate? Our current 4×4 Hilux with one single 12.7mm Browning and Cobra APC 12.7mm gun firepower seems inadequate when we are out-numbered in fire-fights. Anyone with ideas?
There is a kind of Hell firepower you have that the enemy does not feel like fighting you next time after one single encounter. Any new ideas gentlemen?
10 men in every village ? It seems u want the NA to repeat the mistakes of Sierra Leone.
Stop this day dream of yours, no army puts its men in such conditions.
Soldier doesn’t equal superman.
Oga Augustine, you are asking great questions here.
This is the running debate I have had with Oga Peccavi on this blog, for over 2 years now.
THE QUALITY MRAPS/APCs/IFVs brings to the DOMINATION, hence ORGANISATION of the battle space.
Like you, I believe that the resultant moral boast and confidence to patrol of NA troops would get from the infusion of these vehicles, is priceless.
What I know about military affairs, I learnt from observation.
SO when US army Humvees were getting blown up right and left I Iraq, their patrols became less confident, and were ultimately disrupted. This led to chaos, and unchecked mobility of the insurgents, as we see today in maidugri.
As soon as the introduction of MRAPs and uparmored Humvees were made, survivability increased, then patrol confidence increased and the troops were better able to dominate and define the battle space.
Now the Iraqi army and police remained in hiluxes, and their vulnerability, made them also ineffective.
Today, the they run the violent show that is Iraq, but with a lot more confidence, inspired by their MRAPs.
In Somalia, Amisom, patrol confidence and hence battle space definition improved when the EU and US sponsors decided to fund the best MRAPs south Africa could build.
In indian controlled Kashmir, the adopting of these similar MRAPs, have made a telling difference.
The Buffalo MRAP as well as other Russian and Chinese APCs played a significant role in the sri Lankan army’s ability to survive the onslaught of the huge cache of mortar shells manufactured in Zimbabwe.
This cache was Hijacked in the indian ocean by Tamil tiger operatives and the contents offloaded on an LTTE controlled port.
So, I have said all this to say, that NA in Maidugri needs an urgent infusion of MRAPs and APC assets.
These would improve troop survivability, hence troop patrol confidence.
This would enable NA to dominate, and define this battle space, and limit the ability of the roaming technicals of BH to be where ever they want to be.
This patrol confidence, would improve the survivability of FOB check points.
Which in turn would improve base security, as confident patrols and check points, would preempt any more surprise BH frontal assaults on bases.
The security of bases, would allow for the return of the Hinds to bases in maidugri, so they can be close enough to offer close air support and other missions.
With secure bases, robust patrols, robust check points/ FOBs and constant air recon/CAS,
the spatial orientation of the battle space would be back into order.
The commander would have some confidence in what areas of the battle space his troops can realistically deny BH.
This organization of the battle space is what fixes BH positions which can then be cut off and neutralized.
@ Oga doziex, that was a good logical sequence you put together, well done.
Oga Doziex, you are correct about dominating the battlefield, but simply deploying an asset as a moal booster is like painting over rust.
As I said before MRAPs are vehicles designed for a specific role, to carry trrops in a high mine/ IED threat environment, most specifically in a COIN environment. In a conventional war, troops will be carried in soft skin vehicles behind friendly lines, which will be controlled and defended by friendly forces. When going into no mans land, they will be mounted in fighting vehicles.
MRAPs are expensive, fuel and lubricant thirsty, maintenance intensive platforms. The IED threat is not high enough to justify using these vehicles and the resultant pressure on the logistics and support elements.
Likewise these vehicles will have trouble negotiating the narrow urban streets or bad rural roads so they will be restricted in where they can go, thus they can be easily channelled.
The same with APC’s, what use are they? Except in a deliberate strike op, why deploy them?
In a war where you want to take the war to the enemy, you need to operate as the enemy does and what we need is rugged, fast, cheap manoeuvrable vehicles, the VBL or modified 4WD should be the vehicles of choice.
Like I’ve said once, twice, several times, you don’t simply introduce assets because someone else has done it, you do what is pertinent to the situation.
Light APCs have a role but to be honest BH’s heaviest weapon is the 14.5mm and RPG.
They are direct fire weapons, so the best way to defeat them at the platoon level is indirect fire weapons that can outrange them
So you need a mix of weapons and tactics, like I’ve said a platoons weapon mix has to be modified.
For a dismounted platoon 3 Sections of 8 men with a Platoon HQ of 6 men
Each section has a 1 x sharpshooter (FN FAL with optics), 1 x Light Machine gun i.e 5.56 Minimi, 1 x RPG or handheld grenade launcher and 5 x riflemen (AKs). Each man has 6 mags, 2 frag and 2 smoke grenades. Platoon HQ has Platoon and Sgt, 60mm mortar team (2 men), 2 x GPMG
Vehicle patrols could consist of APC’s but to close with the enemy you need light recce vehicles like the VBL, with 12.7mm HMG or else modified technicals with 14.5mm, my ideal mix would be 4 vehicle patrol, one vehicle with a 60mm mortar/ automatic grenade launcher on the back and a 7.62mm for close protection, 2 with 12.7mm and 7.62mm for the commander. A third with 14.5mm and 7.62mm.
That level of firepower properly handled can effectively defend itself against a BH convoy and smash their dismounts
All these weapon systems are already in our inventory, (except the handheld grenade launchers) , no need for new purchases or changes to the logistics chain
Tactics are too long to go into here but they would need to be modified.
Oga Peccavi, I coined the term “patrol confidence”
One can patrol the streets scared for his life, or one can dominate the territory like he owns it.
If you put vulnerable troops on patrol, that can be killed by the 1st burst of an AK-47, Don’t expect lions to emerge out of the situation.
The courage hence performance of troops on patrol is directly related to the survivability of their patrol vehicles.
We see this in the hilux equipping of the Pakistani army, which Nigeria is patterned after.
They sent 70,000 troops to seal their border with Afghanistan. Their casualties have been very high and the moral of the troops have being very low.
Contrast this situation with the MRAP heavy indian troops in Kashmir.
It is not about wanting equipment because other armies had it, it is about appreciating what the equipment did for that army, and extrapolating the benefits to the NA.
There was a brief squabble between your british army and the US army.
You know the brits cant help themselves, when it comes to being condescending to others.
So the brits were critiquing the US mrap overly armored style in Al Anbar province, to the UK’s beret wearing light foot print in basra.
But when the UK faced hostilities in Basra, toward the end, they simply bunkered down in their bases, stopped patrolling, and ceded basra to the Mahdi militia.
Also, in Helmand province were the royal marines, the US marines , 101st air assault and others went through some of the toughest fighting any where in the world, the UK in this case adopted the MRAP heavy concept.
Maidugri might not be IED heavy, neither was Mogadishu, but the Ak’s, the PKMs, the RPG’s and the occasional IED was plenty to make life difficult for the patrol man on foot or in a hilux trucks.
In addition to the above, can we send our top army officers on COIN courses in Sri Lanka? They are among the best in the world having fought the deadly Tamil Tigers, those Tamil insurgents are 10 times tougher than Boko Haram in my opinion. Let’s put ego aside and go get ideas from Sri Lanka, as poor as they are, they have the level of experience we do not have.
That is a good idea gentleman,
Sri Lanka is one of the very few country, who has successfully countered the insurgency and probably the only to have won a decisive victory against them.
The only problem with CoIN is that, no model is exactly replaceable at any other geographical/ political location but, principles do help.
I am linking a article about Sri-Lankan CoIN operation published in ‘Small War Journal’
( The blog owner can please remove it, if it’s against the policies of the blog )
” What Sri Lanka Can Teach Us About COIN ”
Click to access 513-Beehner.pdf
(copy paste in browser)
Oga Bharat: Sri Lanka is an interesting example but not the correct analogy for Boko Haram, operationally it is in fact more like Biafra.
However where the Sri Lankan example is interesting in that the Government took the strategic decision to end the war by all means necessary and took the necessary steps to isolate the enemy not just militarily but economically and diplomatically.
they identified the assets and resources needed to defeat the enemy, strike aircraft, ISTAR assets, SF forces and mechanised/ light infantry with artillery support, developed a doctrine to bring all together, allied with the Chinese making long term deals that tied the Chinese economic interests with the success of the Sri Lankan governments campaign thus making sure they could not pull out or deny support (not that they would). Develop a coherent political and media narrative for their people and for the outside world..
And then when they were ready try (or at least appear to try) a political solution and when not successful unleash a sustained consistent attack and prosecute it (extremely ruthlessly I must say) until the enemy was destroyed.
At the same time put in place a civil programme to rehabilitate and look after the population of that territory (maybe not that well implemented but it is in place) so that the civilian population has something to look forward to.
All in all this is exactly what Nigeria needs.
We have the means and the opportunity to destroy the enemy, we just need the motivation at the top.
Each war has its own peculiarities and as such we cannot possibly have a perfectly generic solution to every insurgency-however there is a substantial amount of similarity in solutions to every insurgency that has ever been successfully (not necessarily totally) dealt with; Be it Chechnya,Sri-lanka,Liberia or even Hannibal’s Carthage.
While the usefulness of politics and endearing the locals as proven very useful in several instances,the use of brute force as an adjunct method as often provided speedy results albeit at great human cost. No nation has ever won an insurgency by been lackadaisical concerning either options and not having a firm and balanced approach incorporating these two extremes.
A multi-pronged approach consisting of systematic denial of insurgency (to the media,funding,health,leadership,religion and basic necessities of practical,social and political life-albeit this will qualify for human right abuse in one way or the other) and creation of landslide type military advantage( swelling the size of attacking forces to unfair advantage,gross imbalance in amount and sophistication of weapons deployed and a consistently attacking spirit even when the foes appears prone to dialogue) often results into better results nearly under all circumstances.
Another type of denial necessary for wining a war of insurgency is self denial of self righteousness- A good man intending to be fair at all instances,not willing to be deceitful ,not willing to sacrifice lives when expedient or deny people any of their rights cannot win a war-these “evils” are not luxury in warfare- they are basic survival necessity. War makes a devil out of everyone involved-we need to be the best devil we can.
One of the major problems of this campaign is that we have too many good men involved.
PS: I am not advocating for gross violation of human rights,abuses and other extreme actions that are unnecessary and self serving-My advocacy is for a warrior spirit at leadership level
Nigerians and their special way of encouraging their troops: rain insults and disrespect and rumors and accusations on them, then expect miracles from them, then go back to insults and accusations then expect other miracles and never give them thanks, just don’t stop the rain of insults.
What one wonders is if boko haram even needs propaganda teams when its enemy is Nigerians which likes to defeat themselves in every way possible.
Nigerians wake up, it doesn’t take half a brain to know that you are not acting in your interest at all. But I must admit, I don’t have a way of knowing that you are indeed Nigerians.
Omo, if you can show a critical POV to be an insult only and lacking any constructive aspect, then you would be right.
While one still has a right to insult our troops, others like you don’t have to stand idly by and take any demoralizing insult.
But I repeat my point, even to the frontline troops, an insult is demoralizing, but a critical POV or constructive criticism is not.
They can decipher the spirit in which the POV is being rendered.
http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/10/icc-haskanita-eyewitness-account-of.html?m=1
http://africanarguments.org/2007/10/11/accounting-for-haskanita/
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2007/10/07/40070.html
If you like reading alarabiya then perhaps you should jump directly to reading alqaida or its friend aljazeera.
For God’s sake people do research on the news papers you read. I can’t forgive people who quote terrorist promoting media, even if they do it unknowingly.
In other words don’t quote alarabiya.
Sorry brother Martin, but please be careful of the news paper you quote. I am tired and i think I need a break.
Intelligece is simply put: Information gathering and analysis. If u take a look at the web pages u would see a lot of paralles from today. The same as NA current history of opps, as seen on lines of the web pages. U can try seek out the final UN report on the actual attack, simply put, tipical of what u read on BH attacks on NA bases. The NA is providing BH fantastic recruiting tools (Vedios), very fantastic tools. U can read posts on this blog which tells u howfar BH is going for recuiting. All they need to say is ‘god is fighting for us’ as it is said ‘when u carry god bullet no fit kill u’.
Our army sud do better than telling us 100 plus little girls are found and latter come back to say sorry missinformation. Then latter we hear o! They were 200 plus girls.
What nxt is after looking at current events critically, I have very big concerns to that the bigest pyc warfare since the 2nd world war is been waged on Nigeria. It seems some people need their words and predictions come to pass as less than this would render then incompitent lairs to their friends in the international community.
I just sit sometime and look at how our people are making statements againts them selves and their army, even claims of genoside by very high ranking and reputable officials.
Oga Solorex: thanks for the clarification because I wan begin ask what you were leading up to!
Brute force has its place. Brute force and a fight to the finish are applicable in certain situations but in terms of BH it is very much not the case.
It is important to not just remember the utility of force but the application of force. In other words, force must be carefully applied to target the enemy not just all and sundry.
The key targets of the enemy have been and continue to be civilians, thus simply replicating the enemy by using firepower willy nilly is silly.
Targeted brutal use of force against the enemy both militarily and through law enforcement is the key.
It perplexes me that people linked to the insurgency from early days are still walking free or that we constantly hear of sponsors identified and then nothing happens. This is where ruthlessness needs to be applied, not on poor villagers who have no control of their fate
You just said what I wanted to say in very clear and simple harsh words! there are people fitting for the carrot ( in all honesty) and there are some that only the stick of right size can convince them
igbi says:
April 27, 2014 at 9:52 am
Stop this day dream of yours, no army puts its men in such conditions.
Soldier doesn’t equal superman.
REPLY
@igbi, you don’t have to jump at peoples throats with claws.
How many armies in the world have you researched into their ops?
10 soldiers in one village with a 4×4 wheel drive up-armoured 180 km/h speedometer rated vehicle armed and mounted with 12.7mm GPMG, 20mm cannon, rapid fire automatic multiple grenade launcher, smoke dispenser, and Hind helicopter gunship ready to arrive with close air support and 8 extra troops in 20 mins should be able to defeat 50 Bokos till NAF brings .in more reinforcement and NA brings in more men and light armoured vehicles to help them if the fire-fight has not ended in our favour.
Any army that cannot win a fire fight against local men who did not pass through NDA or NA School of Infantry, with the firepower and support I mentioned, that army should be transformed into an anti-robbery Police force for a new career.
I agree with oga peccavi’s list of firepower multiplier weapons mix, and I hope NA will adopt it. My only worry is the inaccuracy of indirect mortar fire against a small and highly mobile sneaky force like Boko Haram whose main strength for now has been ‘Melting Into The Air At Will’.
Why should we not buy the South African advanced hand held grenade auto launchers? One shot on target will finish off a Boko Haram 4×4 Vehicle beyond use.
However, I still say any army that cannot use 10 men with the heavy firepower and air support I listed, should be disbanded, I don’t see any Sierra Leone mistake here, Boko does not have 50,000 men like the Sierra Leone rebels.
Oga Peccavi, I second your firepower force multiplier, and I pray NA upgrades to that level. What you have not highlighted is the vehicles we should deploy. Boko has 4×4 vehicles with 180 km/h speedometer rating I guess, they will outrun a Cobra of 115 km/h speedometer, and the Cobra has poorer visibility of the outside when it needs to see every angle of the battlefield and make quick maneuvers. So far, NA seems not to have the speed we need, many reports from General Olukolade usually says… “the remaining Bokos escaped in their vehicles”…NA is being out-run on the battlefield.
When will we kill the enemy finish now? 100 Bokos attack, we kill 40, and 60 escapes. He keeps escaping in about 80% of the engagements Boko has with my army ! He keeps escaping back to his secret base to plan more havoc.
with all due respect, i feel your idea of placing ten men in every village belongs to video games and not real life.
Since the question is; where is boko haram in the sambisa? We should attempt something similar to what the Americans did on encircling Baghdad. They sent an armoured convoy to test out Baghdad defences, as a rapidly moving ‘spear’ in and out of the city. We could employ similar tactics by sending in our Panhards,Mowags or scorpions,maybe even a composite unit as a rapid thrust through sections of the forest to methodically eliminate certain areas of the forest from Bh’s control and concentrate them to a tiny corner before sending in air assets.If done constantly and unrelentingly,It would be unbearable to live under a condition of constant raids by armoured units.
My two kobo.
oops, wrong thread.
Boko Haram:
Airforce can detect unauthorised aircraft, says CAS
Posted by: By Precious Igbonwelundu in News Update March 28, 2014
The Nigerian Airforce has discarded speculations that the extremist sect Boko Haram was engaging in air attacks in the North East and using aircrafts to ship in its weapons.
Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Adesola Amosu who debunked the rumour noted that the Airforce has technology that detects any unauthorised aircraft in the nation’s airspace.
Amosu was in Lagos for the 2014 Airforce Logistics Seminar, which held at the Sam Ethnam Airforce Base, Ikeja.
Insisting that the allegations were untrue, he stated that the force will definitely bring down any unauthorised aircraft observed in the nation’s airspace.
The Nigerian Air Force is and would always be in control of the nation’s airspace, said Amosu, just as he revealed that with the sophisticated equipment acquired, and collaborating efforts from sister agencies, the military was ready to fight the insurgents to standstill.
However, Amosu said the military was not completely dismissing the rumour as every information is treated with the required urgency be it rumour or not. “We have technology that can detect any unauthorised aircraft that flies over our airspace. If we observe such aircraft we will definitely bring them down.
“We are worried equally and we are monitoring, but like I said, somebody may see the Nigerian Airforce aircraft and believe that it belongs to Boko Haram.
However, one thing is sure, they are getting their supplies, but it might not be by air. They have built up the Manbisa Forest for a very long time, how are we sure that they did not have sufficient supply in stock before the attacks started?
“As a tactician, one also has to be sure that one has to constantly examine tactics and approach and that is what this seminar intends to achieve. When the logistics is not enough it becomes a problem.
“When you commit your forces to operation, one of the things we do as leaders is to constantly visit to boost their morale, we have to check to ensure that the tactics employed is still relevant.
“We have to be sure that you are still going to be effective,” said Amosu.
Tagged “enhancing effective logistics support for air operations in Nigerian Air Force through innovative technology,” the seminar had in attendance former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Oluseye Petinrin; chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Air Force, Kenneth Achibong; a committee member, Deji Jakande; the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence as well as the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Samuel Alade.
In his remark, Petinrin advised the armed forces to seek for those with knowledge of how to handle their equipment.
“The real problem is knowledge and not equipment. It is when you have knowledge of particular equipment that one can handle such equipment. The shrinking manpower in the air force caused by retirement of qualified personnel is worrisome,” he said.
http://thenationonlineng.net/new/boko-haram-airforce-can-detect-unauthorised-aircraft-says-cas/
NAF is still having this age old problem of skilled personnel and retention of well trained technical officers. sometimes i think the civil service functions even better than the armed forces.
they cant keep enough transport planes air worthy. and when they manage to service one or two, they don’t have sufficient aircrew or enough knowledgeable ground crew to maintain the aircraft constantly in tip top. its no surprise, that they at Air HQ barely dream of any 4G multirole fighter jets.
what is supposed to be the bread and butter of the air force is suddenly been treated like mission to mars. so disappointing.
why cant the air force retain these retired personnel as contract staff and continue to benefit from their immense knowledge. simple innovation sometimes seems like moving mountains. the bureaucracy in the armed forces is getting worse than the civil service. the red tape and ‘i don’t care attitude’ will continue to eat away the efficiency of this potentially powerful branch
Oga Doziex, yup we Brits can be condescending but as discussed earlier, we have consistently kicked ass, while other armys got their asses handed to them and then went home and made movies and video games to claim victory.
I will happily concede neither Basra nor Helmand were strategically our finest hour. It does not detract from the escalation of force model of COIN as opposed to the firepower, armour intensive model.
Once again lets compare results, UK forces eventually made a few deals with the Mahdi Army and withdrew, the US made deals with the Sunni’s and Shias, leading to Moqtadr Al Sadr giving them a truce and the Sunni Awakening chasing Al Qaeda and giving the US breathing space to withdraw, the insurgency was not defeated despite all the sexy toys and massive firepower. It is still going on till today.
Nice kit does give confidence I agree but a well trained, well equipped platoon moving on foot through the streets or bush is 10 times better than a poorly trained platoon hiding in a vehicle. How can you feel the environment? how do you sneak up on the enemy?
Patrol confidence? No
Morale- yes and that is a mix of many things namely; a good or at least believed in cause, good leadership, good training, good training, belief that you are being looked after etc.
Mogadishu, is IED heavy, roadside, VBIED the works
The Pakistanis are using soft skinned vehicles in an IED rich environment, that is also mountainous with thick forests, it is an insurgents paradise. IEDs are the least of their problems
Helmand is a great analogy, I went there in the 3rd tour after we took it over from the Us, the US soldiers drove around in their MRAPs and Humvees and never patrolled, so they never got attacked because the Taliban were using it as a logistics area, when the UK got there and actually deployed on the ground they got into fights because the enemy was no longer able to hide.
MRAPs are useful but I do not yet see the need in the NE for at least a year and only then if we keep the same type of back and forth operations.
Oga Augustine: I agree with you but I would suggest the minimum number of men in any location is 12. this leaves 4 men at the minimum to guard the base, 4 men on patrol and 4 men at rest or n reserve.
However I would suggest that only for small or easily defended villages, like hill tops etc.
however dispersing your forces means that you also have to defend the lines of communication for supplies and casualty evacuation etc.
It is also imperative they are easily reinforced.
Mortars and indirect fire weapons are ideal against soft skinned vehicles. you do not need a direct hit, air burst or even a near miss will neutralise the enemy.
I always hesitate to recommend equipment, its better to suggest requirements and identify kit that has those characteristics for me (bearing in mind I’ve never been to the north east), rugged, long range, diesel, 4 wheel drive, cross country ability, etc.
I would also like the Na to experiment with a motorcycle mounted Company, crazy as it sounds it is a way to move rapidly in this environment, 2 platoons mounted on motorbiks and another support platoon on quad bikes that have mortars, MRLs and HMGs mounted on them as well as transporting supplies and ammo.
The Japanese attacked all the way down Malaya defeating a vastly superior British Army on bicycles, I see no reason why we cannot update this tactics for the 21st century
igbi says:
April 28, 2014 at 6:11 pm
with all due respect, i feel your idea of placing ten men in every village belongs to video games and not real life.
REPLY
How many human beings live in a small village in NE Nigeria, I have flown over a large part of the area at medium altitude for several years, it is mostly empty scanty land and the huts that that make up a village are not up to one street in Lagos.
You don’t need a company of 120 soldiers to guard a village of 300 people. I maintain my stand because the Americans have proved that 10 men with firepower can defeat 50 men with less arms.
Soldiers that passed through NA School of Infantry should be prepared to fight out numbered sometimes. afterall Boko is a 90% bunch of illiterates that have never smelled the aroma of any world class military academy like NDA.
Nigerian army does not have more than 10 men to garrison one village, there are over thousands of villages in northern Nigeria, scattered all over a large expanse of land. Nigerian army cannot be everywhere in large numbers of a company of platoon.
If we are not ready to have NA put men in every village, then Boko will continue to succeed in killing innocent villagers. Then we have to find another way of winning this war.
As long as one single Nigerian is killed by Boko in any part of this country, we have not won the war and the war is not over.
My two kobo.
“You don’t need a company of 120 soldiers to guard a village of 300 people”
It’s not the size or value of what you are guarding; it’s the size and strength of what you are guarding against.
10 soldiers in a trench will defeat the 50 soldiers that decides to charge the trench IF the field of fire is just right.
But a village has a circumference and a BH fighter can simply come in as a civilian, scope out how the 10 soldiers operate, then the “50” BH fighters will strike with the right plan to defeat the 10 soldiers.
The US will not knowingly place it’s 10 soldiers against does odds.
10 soldiers is less than a section – they may not have all the firepower elements needed to fight, win and sustain only few casualties.
Planners cannot plan for heroics – if heroics happen, awesome, but a plan built on assumed heroics is likely to fail.
peccavi says:
April 29, 2014 at 12:30 am
REPLY :
Thanks a lot for the above analysis, I copy you sir. Over and out.