KEY POINTS

• Four soldiers of the 115 Task Force Battalion and a civilian woman were killed in a midday Boko Haram attack on Mussa community in Askira-Uba, Borno State, on April 15.
• The attack came on the same day Nigeria held burial rites for Brig. Gen. Oseni Braimah, Captain Ismail and other soldiers killed in the April 9 Benishiekh raid.
• The 115 Task Force Battalion had killed four Boko Haram fighters and rescued three kidnap victims from the same Mussa area just four days earlier, underscoring the insurgency’s persistent local presence.

Suspected Boko Haram insurgents killed four soldiers and a civilian woman in a midday attack on a community in Borno State Wednesday, extending a brutal stretch of losses for Nigeria’s military that has now claimed the lives of multiple commanding officers and dozens of troops in less than two weeks.

The attack struck Mussa community in Askira-Uba Local Government Area at around noon. Mada Saidu, chairman of the local government, confirmed the details to PUNCH, saying the civilian casualty was a woman. “There was an attack at Mussa ward yesterday afternoon. They killed one civilian, a lady, and four soldiers,” he said.

A coordinated push to breach the town

Military sources said the soldiers were killed when they came under attack around noon. The terrorists were armed with superior ammunition during the assault, which lasted close to an hour.

“They attacked the 115 Task Force Battalion in Askira-Uba this afternoon. Four soldiers were killed. It was a gun battle between the troops and the insurgents. They were taken unawares, but the troops stood their ground,” a military source said

A separate military source confirmed the unit involved: soldiers of the 115 Task Force Battalion, deployed in the local government. “The insurgents were not many, but it was a coordinated attack aimed at infiltrating the town. The troops stood their ground, but unfortunately, the four were killed,” the source said.

Residents said they heard gunfire for about 30 minutes. “We were hearing serious gunshots, and many people began to flee their homes at exactly 12pm yesterday,” a resident who declined to be named said.

“If not for the military’s defence, they had intended to enter our community that afternoon to cause massive destruction.”

Burials as attacks continue

Wednesday’s killings came on the same day the Nigerian Army buried soldiers lost in the April 9 raid on the 29 Task Force Brigade headquarters in Benishiekh.

The Nigerian Army laid to rest the remains of late Brigadier General Oseni Braimah, Captain Ismail and other soldiers at the Maimalari Cantonment Cemetery in Maiduguri.

Braimah was killed on April 9 during an insurgent assault on the military base in Benishiekh, Kaga Local Government Area of Borno State. He was the highest-ranking military official to die in the conflict since 2021.

Three days after Benishiekh, troops of Sector 3 of Operation Hadin Kai came under attack in Monguno on April 12.

The commanding officer, driving toward the scene of the engagement to personally assess the situation, struck an improvised explosive device and was killed alongside six other soldiers.

A unit that had just scored a win

The April 16 attack on the 115 Task Force Battalion in Mussa came only four days after the same unit recorded a tactical success in the same local government. On April 12, troops of A Company, 115 Task Force Battalion, deployed in ambush at Mussa after receiving intelligence on suspicious terrorist movement along the Damboa-Chibok axis.

They engaged the insurgents at about 2:30 a.m., killing four terrorists and forcing others to flee. Hours later, they conducted follow-up operations near Old Hyum and rescued three kidnapped Fulani civilians from a terrorist enclave.

A mounting toll

A recent report on Nigeria’s security situation described a sharp escalation in March 2026, with 72 percent of deaths linked to terrorism. Guerrilla attacks on military bases have intensified, with senior officers increasingly among those killed in coordinated, high-impact operations.

Borno and Plateau were identified as major hotspots, with the North-East recording the highest fatalities at 167 deaths in the period reviewed.

Sen. Mohammed Ali Ndume, representing Borno South, reiterated calls on the federal government to equip the military with mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, fighter jets and drones, warning that without adequate weapons, troops remain dangerously exposed.