Third day of violence in Damaturu/Maiduguri – Renewed Shoot-Out As Death Toll Rises

The violence began last Thursday, and continued until yesterday with fresh shoot-outs between the sect members and security operatives.   Conflicting accounts are putting the casualty figure in the violence in Damaturu, Potiskum and Maiduguri at about 100. The deaths comprise members of the Boko Haram, security forces and civilians. The Chief of Army Staff, […]

The violence began last Thursday, and continued until yesterday with fresh shoot-outs between the sect members and security operatives.

 

Conflicting accounts are putting the casualty figure in the violence in Damaturu, Potiskum and Maiduguri at about 100. The deaths comprise members of the Boko Haram, security forces and civilians.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Azubuike Ihejirika, had, while inspecting the Guard Brigade troops in Abuja last Friday, said soldiers had killed over 50 members of the Boko Haram during an intense gun battle in Damaturu, Yobe State, between Thursday and Friday.

He said soldiers had destroyed a major armoury of the Boko Haram in the confrontation that lasted many hours, which according to him, led to the killing of three soldiers while seven others sustained injuries.

On his part, the commissioner of police in Yobe State, Mr. Lawan Tanko, said many members of the Boko Haram sect were killed but only 12 corpses were recovered as at yesterday.

“The number of the sect members that were killed should be far more than the bodies that we recovered. This is because experience has shown that they (Boko Haram) have their way of taking away all their members killed or injured during combat,” Tanko said.

He said seven police were killed, including two officers. “It is very unfortunate that we lost our Assistant Commissioner in charge of Operations, Ibrahim Abubakar, and the officer-in-charge of MOPOL, Superintendent Kabiru Musa. They led the operation on Thursday and we lost contact with them around 9pm on that day. When the battle started, the sect members retreated into the bush, and these two officers pursued them to their hideouts. It was at that point that the ACP and Mopol leader were ambushed and killed by Boko Haram fighters.”

He said contrary to insinuations that the officers were killed in their homes last Friday, “they lost their lives in active service while confronting the sect members. We recovered their corpses in the bush on Friday,” the commissioner said, adding that a civilian lost his life when he was hit by a stray bullet in Potiskum.

The commissioner said “absolute precautionary measures” were taken while handling the uprising, which according to him, had reduced civilian casualty.

On the other hand, the spokesman of the Boko Haram, Abul-Qaqa, in a telephone interview yesterday denied the claim that his members were killed.

“The truth is that none of our members was killed throughout the revolutionary attempt. I can assure you that our team of combatants is intact, nobody was killed,” he said.

Qaqa added that, “If at all there are 50 dead bodies, as claimed by the Chief of Army staff, they must be the dead bodies of civilians and not our men,” he said. “We are responsible for the attacks in Damaturu, Potiskum and Maiduguri and we will continue doing what we are doing. I want to call on the federal government to release our members that have been unjustly incarcerated,” he said.

Sunday Trust reports that there was a non-stop violence, especially in Damaturu, which rocked the town for over 30 hours, and prompted the state government to declare a dusk-to-dawn curfew throughout the state.

The area that was worse hit by the assault was Pompomari, a suburb behind the Federal Polytechnic, Damaturu, where many houses were burnt.

The spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the North-East, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, said his men, yesterday, visited Pompomari and evacuated many people, especially the elderly, women and children.

“Even this morning, there were skirmishes, occasioned by gunshots in Damaturu. We have taken the vulnerable groups out of the place and would offer them some assistants,” Farinloye said.

He added that last Friday, there was heavy traffic on the busy route which also links Nigeria with Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

“We have mobilized stakeholders to attend to distress needs of the stranded passengers.  We have taken water, bread and medications to the checkpoints,” Farinloye said.

A medical staff at the Sani Abacha Specialists Hospital, Damaturu, who spoke in confidence, confirmed that there are about 24 new dead bodies deposited at the hospital morgue.

“We are still receiving corpses as at today (Saturday)” he said.

There are also unconfirmed reports that families of the deceased who attempted reclaiming the bodies of their relatives were being arrested by the police.

Fighting between members of the Boko Haram and security forces erupted around 3pm in Pompomari area of Damaturu last Thursday and continued unabated throughout Friday. There were still gunshots in Damaturu yesterdays.

“We were asked to leave the area within 30 minutes and there are speculations that army will bombard our houses and we don’t know where to go,” Sabo Mohammed, a resident of the area said.

A source told  Sunday Trust  yesterday that the army had taken over the  whole of Damaturu and that  many armoured carrier tanks had been deployed to forestall further insurrections.

Witnesses said in Potiskum four policemen and a civilian were killed last Thursday when members of the sect attempted to bomb the divisional police officer in the area. In neighboring Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, more than 20 people were reportedly killed that Thursday at various locations, either as a result of explosions or gunshots.

But the spokesman of the Joint Task Force (JTF) Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Mohammed said only one person was killed.

“We have succeeded in shooting down one suspected Boko Haram member during a gun battle with the JTF,” he said.

About ten explosions went off in Baga Road, Abbaganaram, Jajeri and Dala, all in the state capital. “Most of the explosions were targeted at the civil populace and a church close to NNPC deport,” Mohammed said.

A witness in Dala, where many explosions took place, said he counted 14 corpses and were secretly evacuated by the Nigerian security forces in the early hours of Friday.

“We cannot tell whether it is the Boko Haram or the security forces that killed them,” he said.

Mohammed Sanusi, a trader at the Baga market, said he saw the corpses of three people being taken away in a pick-up van.

Residents of Abbaganaram also said about four dead bodies were seen with bullet injuries on yesterday.