So, early Friday morning, October 11, 2025, things got wild in Ngamdu—yeah, that stretch between Damaturu and Maiduguri that always seems to be in the headlines for the wrong reasons. Boko Haram rolled out heavy, hit a military post hard at like 2:30 a.m. Not your run-of-the-mill attack, either. We’re talking RPGs, drones, IEDs—the whole nine yards. Really nasty stuff. In the chaos, four Nigerian soldiers lost their lives, and five more were left wounded. Just brutal.
Lt Col Uba Sani, the guy speaking for Operation Hadin Kai, didn’t sugarcoat it. He laid out how these militants had their act together—coordinated assault, serious firepower, and some nasty tricks with those command-detonated explosives. They were clearly gunning to cause as much damage as humanly possible, maybe even break the army’s grip on the area. Honestly, it’s kind of terrifying how sophisticated these attacks are getting. Not some ragtag group anymore.
But credit where it’s due: the Nigerian troops didn’t just roll over. They held the line, fired back hard, and apparently gave the insurgents a real pounding. Reinforcements from the 29 Task Force Brigade swooped in—really saved the day, by the sound of it. It wasn’t a free victory, though. Apart from the soldiers who died or got hurt, gear took a beating too. MRAPs, gun trucks—some of those vehicles got messed up. And then there was the issue with the main supply route—terrorists planted IEDs all over the highway to slow things down and keep backup from arriving. Pain in the neck for everyone.
Engineers had to hustle out there, clearing at least three spots packed with explosives just so the army and, honestly, anyone else could use the road again. The military scrambled to get the troops new tires, ammo, whatever they needed to keep moving. No time to sit back and relax in that part of the world.
Later, reports trickled in that Boko Haram took a real hit—like, 15 of their guys ended up in a mass grave near Bula Wura. That’s not nothing. Shows the military’s not just sitting on its hands.
Of course, all this fighting meant the highway was basically a parking lot for hours. Borno Express and other bus drivers got stuck, commuters stranded, everyone’s plans thrown into chaos. Muktar Yahaya from Borno Express sounded pretty fed up, saying the security checks and the attack itself basically wrecked travel for the day.
Bottom line? The region’s still a powder keg, and there’s zero room for the army to let its guard down. Operation Hadin Kai’s got its hands full, still out there hunting these insurgents, trying to keep things from spiraling any further. This wasn’t some isolated incident, either. Boko Haram’s made a habit of hitting military posts, messing with civilian life—just keeping the whole place on edge.
The fight’s nowhere near over. The military needs better intel, more support from locals, all that stuff. The government keeps asking for help—from neighbors, the international community, anyone who’ll listen. Because fixing this mess? It’s gonna take more than just bullets and barricades.
So yeah, another ugly chapter in the northeast. Four soldiers gone, five hurt, terrorists pushed back but not gone for good. And life on that highway? Still risky business.