Revelations emerging shows that the failed operation to save the Briton and Italian came from PM David Cameron on Thursday morning, after all other options had been exhausted. According to Sky news defence and security editor Sam Kiley said there was intelligence the pair, who were held in a building in a walled compound in Sokoto, were in imminent danger of being moved, killed or moved to be killed.
Such operations are only carried out if the hostages' lives are in danger, as they put lives at risk.
A group of six to eight members of the Special Boat Service (SBS) conducted the assault.
They could not use helicopters for the final element of the operation because the unusual sounds from the aircraft would have alerted the hostage-takers. Government sources say the gun battle that followed the attack on the house where they were kept was brief, but Nigerians living around the house said the gun battle lasted for some time during which about 8 members of Boko Haram were killed. According to sky sources "Based on the information, security agencies mapped out strategies to invade the compound.
"But the Boko Haram members keeping the hostages suspected that something was wrong when for two days their leader, Abu Mohammed and four others did not return to the compound.
"We are suspecting that the hostages were killed to pre-empt onslaught on the compound by security agencies and the military."
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