In another daring operation, members of
the terrorist Islamic sect, Boko Haram, on Monday night killed about 300
people in Gamboru Ngala, Borno State. Gamboru Ngala is a border town
with Cameroon.
The Boko Haram insurgents also abducted
11 more girls in Warabe and Wala communities in the Chibok Local
Government Area of Borno State late on Monday.
The insurgents reportedly drove into Gamboru Ngala in armoured vehicles.
It was learnt that the insurgents, who
seemed to have targeted a local market, shot sporadically at traders at
the market before proceeding into the town to wreak more havoc.
Gamboru is situated along
Nigeria-Cameroon border and is the administrative headquarters of the
Ngala Local Government Area of Borno State. It is about 200 kilometres
from Maiduguri, the state capital city.
Senator Ahmed Zannah, who is
representing the area in the Senate, confirmed the killings. He said the
invaders spent about 12 hours wreaking havoc on defenceless Nigerians.
He revealed that several other persons
were injured in the attack, while almost all the houses and shops in the
town were burnt down.
The senator, who spoke in a BBC
Hausa report monitored in Maiduguri on Tuesday, said many people were
wounded, while surviving victims rendered homeless as thousands of
houses and shops were burnt by the rampaging gunmen.
He claimed that the attackers were armed
with dangerous weapons comprising Armoured Personnel Carrier,
Improvised Explosive Devices, petrol bombs, assault rifles and Rocket
Propelled Launchers.
“The attackers stormed the communities
in the night when residents were still sleeping, setting ablaze houses
and shooting residents who tried to escape from the fire,’’ he said.
He added, “About 300 persons were
confirmed dead after the incident, with several others injured. Almost
all the houses in the communities were destroyed by the hoodlums who
threw IEDs at the buildings.
“My brother who was at the scene of the
attack told me that the actual number of the dead cannot be ascertained
but at least they are up to 300. In fact, as he spoke he wept following
the high number of the dead bodies which littered the market.”
According to him, the security forces
earlier deployed in the area, had moved to the Lake Chad axis when they
received intelligence report that some gunmen were sighted with abducted
schoolgirls moving to the area.
“It was just an hour after their
withdrawal that the terrorists invaded the town, shooting everyone at
sight and setting buildings on fire. So far 200 vehicles and thousands
of houses, shops and an outfit of the Nigerian Customs Service, (NCS)
were all burnt”, he explained.
A local government official who declined identification also confirmed the casualty figure.
“It is really a terrible situation, we
had wanted to rush relief materials to the area to provide temporary
succour to the victims. But we were prevailed upon by security agents to
shelve our plans for security reasons,” the official said.
More girls seized
The 11 girls were reportedly seized in Warabe and Wala when gunmen invaded the communities.
Warabe is about 160 kilometres away from Maiduguri, the state capital.
The community is located on the
outskirts of Gwoza town, which had witnessed a series of deadly attacks
by suspected terrorists in recent times.
Police sources and residents confirmed the kidnapping of the girls, said to be aged between 12 and 15.
A resident of Warabe, who said he had
since relocated to Gwoza, Ishaku Bremcha, said through the phone on
Tuesday, “There was a twin ambush by gunmen last night along Guduf-Gava
route of Gwoza Hills. The gunmen came through the settlements of Hwa’a,
Chikedeh, and Guduf-Wala hills down to Wala Kasa, and proceeded to Dure
village, west of Gwoza town with 11 abducted teenagers into Sambisa
Forest last night.
“The abductors did not inflict injury or
kill any of us in Warabe and Wala, but took away 11 of our young
daughters into the forest, after warning us not to report the
kidnappings.”
The Borno State Commissioner of Police,
Tanko Lawal, could not be reached for confirmation because GSM lines to
Maiduguri were inaccessible.
But a top police officer, who spoke on
the condition of anonymity, said some armed hoodlums attacked two
villages in the Gwoza council area “and abducted about a dozen
teenagers.”
A resident of Warabe, Mallam Bello Umar,
who spoke to journalists in Maiduguri, said, “A group of terrorists
invaded Warabe village on Sunday night, abducted 11 of our teenage girls
and carted them away with our foodstuffs and livestock.
“As I am talking to you now, I have run
to Gwoza Council headquarters, and even in Gwoza, we cannot move around
easily due to the fear of the terrorists.
“The situation is so pathetic that
almost everyone in Gwoza congregates at a safer zone close to the
council secretariat where there is enough presence of security
personnel.”
Umar said the gunmen, numbering over 20 and armed with AK-47 rifles, stormed the village but that they did not kill anybody.
“They simply abducted the 11 teenage
girls before fleeing towards the hilly border areas between Gwoza and
Cameroon Republic,” he added.
Reuters also quoted another
resident of Warabe, Lazarus Musa, as saying on Tuesday that gunmen
invaded the village and abducted the girls.
“They were many, and all of them carried
guns. They came in two vehicles painted in army colour. They started
shooting in our village,” Musa reportedly said.
A police source, who could not be named,
also said the Warabe girls were taken away in trucks, along with looted
livestock and food.
