At least 17 soldiers have died while many others were abducted in two confrontations on Friday & Saturday between the military and Boko Haram insurgents on Bama-Gwoza highway, a report by Punch has revealed.

Also, the terrorists suffered high casualty rate during the bloody faceoff.

According to the report, the insurgents were said to have initially attacked Firgi, 20 kilometres north of Pulka along the road from Gwoza to Bama on Friday.They were said to have killed 13 soldiers in the crossfire that took over two hours.The insurgents were said to have forced some of the soldiers to retreat.

Sources added that the insurgents carted away some arms, ammunition and vehicles belonging to the Nigerian Army.One of the sources said, “During the crossfire started around 10pm, 13 soldiers were killed with four of their vehicles taken away. “On Saturday, the insurgents came back to the same area to continue from where they left.”

They were said to have attacked a military company at Banki junction on Bama-Gwoza Road around 10pm