Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri

The Nigerian Army has dismissed a video purportedly released by Boko Haram showing the gruesome killing of scores of soldiers at a military base in Borno State last weekend.

Army Headquarters, in its first reaction to last weekend’s attack on a military base at Metele, Guzamala Local Government Area of Borno State, contained in a press release on its official web, said the video was part of the propaganda of the terrorist group to “misinform the populace and portray themselves as what they are not.”

Related News

“The spurious circulation of some of these videos only contribute to further propagate the propaganda intent of the terrorists; to misinform the populace and portray themselves as what they are not. So far, the situation is that the location is under control as reinforcing units have been able to repel the terrorists and stabilise the situation,” the Army said.

READ ALSO: Why we closed Makurdi airfield – NAF

It said the video trending was an “inaccurate and false” account of the incident, urging Nigerians to disregard the video.
Scores of officers and soldiers died in an attack on 157 Army Task Force Battalion at Metele by Boko Haram last
week. The Nigerian Army did not confirm or comment on the attack for a week even as media reports claimed about 100 troops died in the attack, which lasted for about three hours.
The Army said it was following “laid down procedures for reporting incidents that involve its personnel who fall casualty in action.” It said families of the slain personnel were usually contacted first as a form of respect before it releases information to the public “so as to avoid exacerbating the grief family members would bear were they to discover such from unofficial sources.”

The Army thanked government agencies, other sister security organisations and Nigerians for sympathising with the force over the incident.