The Islamic State West African Province terrorists, a faction of Boko Haram, have released a video showing the alleged capture of a Nigerian Navy base around Lake Chad in Borno State.
The video showed four naval personnel captured alive by ISWAP and later executed by the terrorists.
The Defence Headquarters, Abuja, on Sunday, however, dismissed the video as mischievous, adding that the terrorists’ group cloned the video in an attempt to “propagate false information and present a public image of a virile force.”
The acting Director, Defence Information, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, said in a release that the terrorists occupied only a disused boat yard, as the insurgents had suffered enormous losses in several encounters with troops in the last seven months.
Meanwhile, in the video by the ISWAP fighters, three of the naval personnel introduced themselves as Ebirek Adewale, Muhammed Muhammed, and Aliyu Adamu.
The video showed some Armoured Personnel Carriers, gun trucks and other weapons the insurgents claimed to have stolen from the Nigerian military.
Also in the footage was the setting ablaze of a Nigerian Army flag stolen from a military base, said to belong to the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Baga area of Borno State.
However, the Defence spokesman, Nwachukwu, said the terrorists’ claims should be discarded as a mere propaganda.
He said, “Apparently, this video shows ISWAP occupation of a disused boat yard, which is still being mischievously circulated, after careful doctoring, to portray a phantom capture of a naval base in Baga, as if it were a recent victory in its insurgency campaign. The video footage is undoubtedly an amateurish attempt to save face, having suffered enormous losses in several encounters with troops in the last seven months.”