The Nigerian military has secretly trained hundreds of commandos to be unleashed on Boko Haram insurgents, a report in one of the country’s leading dailies said this morning.

A commando, as defined by Wikipedia, is a soldier or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force often specialising in amphibious landings, parachuting or abseiling. Arrangements have been concluded to deploy 600 specially trained commandos in the troubled area of Damboa, Borno State in the troubled North-East, according to a report in The PUNCH.

It quoted a security source as disclosing that the military leadership decided to take the step to send the specially trained forces to the area to replace some of the soldiers with affected morale in the area.

The paper quoted the source as saying: “The Army is sceptical about the sincerity of the Damboa people. The situation is such that it has become difficult to separate the people of the area from Boko Haram elements in the area. The place is completely infested.

“And that was responsible for the ambushing and killing of the officer, who was in charge of the troops in the area.

“The morale of the troops is seriously affected, with the killing of their commander and there is the need to prevent them from acting irrationally, to boost their morale.

“The officer, who was killed went there to protect the integrity of the nation. Being a Muslim, he had to tell them they were damaging the image of the North.

“He led that soft approach, to plead with the leaders to talk to them about the importance of peace, and to warn anybody who refused would be dealt with.

“A specialised team has been trained to take over from some of the guys on the ground. Six hundred of them are ready for deployment now. It is a strong force that would boost the morale of those in the area.”

•Photo of commandos courtesy of erepublik.com