The Commanding Officer of the 272 Special Task Force Task Battalion, Lt. Col. Muhammad Abu-Ali and six troops who were killed during a Boko Haram attack at Mallam Fatori on November 4, 2016 were given a national burial at the military cemetery, Abuja on Monday.
The Army Commander described by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, as ‘Sarkin Yakin, the frontline general’ and the six others were buried in a brief but solemn ceremony which was attended by the leadership of the nation’s military, top politicians, family members of the deceased and associates.
The other killed military personnel comprising five Army personnel and a Naval seaman were Staff Sgt. Muazu Ibrahim, Sgt. Husseini Jafaru, Sgt. Okon Bassey, Cpl. Chukwu Simon, PTE Salishu Lawal, and Able Seaman Patrick Paul.
It took the Chief of Army Staff a lot of efforts and a visible struggle with emotions amidst tears, with cracking voice, to read the brief funeral oration of the fallen warriors.
Buratai, while reading the funeral oration of the deceased amidst intermittent sob, said that they were “inducted into the Operation Lafiya Dole in 2014 to form the pivot of counter insurgency efforts of the Armed Forces of Nigeria in the North-East.”
He said that the soldiers, who were members of the 119 Task Force Battalion and the Armed Forces Special Forces, took the battle to the insurgents and recovered several territories from them.
According to him, “The brave, precise, professional and inspiring” troops recovered
Monguno, Baga, New Marte, Bama, Gwoza, Banki Junction, Gamboru Ngala, Yale, Yemteke, Bitam, Doronaira, Kagarwa, Ärrege, Abadam, and Mallam Fatori from the Boko Haram sect.
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