The Nigerian Army has declared 104 soldiers from the 162 Amphibious Battalion along the Mandara–Buratai Road in Borno State as deserters after they went missing with their service rifles following a deadly attack on their base in early June.
On 5 June, insurgents believed to be members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) launched a coordinated overnight assault on the military position. According to security sources, the attackers exploited heavy rainfall and poor visibility to penetrate the base. Several soldiers were reportedly killed during the attack, while more than 100 personnel remain unaccounted for.
Beyond the immediate battlefield losses, the disappearance of trained soldiers together with their weapons raises serious operational and security concerns for Nigeria’s counterinsurgency campaign in the Lake Chad Basin.
