in Borno State which was recently recovered from it by the Nigerian
Army. Marte, a distance of some 177 kilometer from Maiduguri, the
Borno state capital, was the first to be captured in 2013 by the
fundamentalists.
The recapturing of the town yesterday by the Islamic fundamentalists
group coincided with the second day that the federal government
imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on the troubled state.
Military authorities however said that the 24-hour curfew imposed on
the city on Thursday would continue until it is sure that some 600
suspected female suicide bombers working for the insurgents have not
infiltrated the state capital.
The curfew which was relaxed for five hours starting from noon to
allow people attend the Friday mosque as well as travellers stranded
outside the town to get to their homes, had to continue probably
through the weekend.
LEADERSHIP reports that impeccable military and hospital sources, say
that at least six soldiers, three members of the Civilian-JTF and 27
other civilians believed to be members of the Boko Haram insurgents
have been killed during the aborted attack on Maiduguri on Wednesday.
It was reliably gathered that the insurgents have hoisted their flags
on the recaptured territory.
Borno state deputy governor, Alhaji Zannah Umar Mustapha, had
confirmed the situation in Marte as well as the feared influx of 600
female suicide bombers when he spoke to journalists on Thursday on why
the curfew had to be sustained. "It is sad as we have been made to
understand that Marte is today completely fallen under the control of
the insurgents, which to us is a very huge set back", he said.
A hospital source had reliably informed LEADERSHIP Weekend that at
least six soldiers and three operatives of the Civilian-JTF had been
killed during the attack by Boko Haram at the outskirts villages of
Kayamla, Balle and Wadia, all located some few kilometres away from
Maiduguri.
Boko Haram terrorist, according to soldiers who participated in the
Wednesday operation, were not only using women as cannon fodders, but
also using them for suicide attack during such operations. "Some of
the Civilian-JTF operatives that were died during the attack were
killed by female suicide bombers whom we earlier thought were
villagers in distress", said a soldier who would not want his name
mentioned because it was an offence for him to speak directly to the
press.
"It was later we realised that most of the women that were with the
Boko Haram were suicide bombers. That was how our men suffered deaths
in Sambisa when our troops began to storm the forest weeks back. Some
of the terrorists that were injured had informed our officers that
there were over 600 of such women that were billed to storm Maiduguri
on suicide mission", said the soldier.
The soldier also confirmed that "we lost six of our men and some
others were injured as well, but many of the insurgents too died". A
hospital security worker, Abba Shehu, had confirmed to our reporter
that "many corpses of civilians have been deposited at the University
of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital morgue.
"More than 20 corpses were brought in to the hospital on Thursday
afternoon and all were victims of the Wednesday attack. Many others
were injured and have been receiving treatment.
A secretary of the local hunters group, known as Vigilante Group of
Nigeria, Borno state branch had also confirmed to our reporter in a
phone interview that "more than 20 persons were killed apart from the
soldiers and the civilian-JTF. Our officers in Wadia and Balle areas
which are all close to Kayamla had informed us that more than 20
civilians residing in Wadia have been killed by military artillery.
Borno state deputy governor, Zannah Umar Mustapha, who had to cut
short his official engagements in Abuja to return to Maiduguri
yesterday, had explained to journalists why residents must be patient
and allow the curfew to go on for some days.
"It is unfortunate that we are experiencing yet another attack in
Maiduguri at this time that we are thinking that the insurgency should
have subsided following the taking over of Sambisa forest by the
military", said the deputy governor.
No comments:
Post a Comment