Scores
of civilians and security operatives were killed on Monday morning
by suspected Boko Haram terrorists, who unleashed mayhem on military
facilities and areas inhabited by civilians in Maiduguri, Borno State.
The attacks by the insurgents, who
rode into the troubled city in different vehicles, including an
armoured personnel carrier, chanting Islamic slogans, were said to
have lasted for about six hours before they were curtailed.
The Director of Defence Information,
Brig.–Gen. Chris Olukolade, in an electronic mail on Monday, said
that 24 insurgents were killed in the attacks which also resulted in
the wounding of two Nigerian Air Force personnel.
Although Olukolade was silent on the
civilian casualty, a resident of the Gomari area, a few kilometres to
the Maiduguri International Airport, said he saw five trucks conveying
dead soldiers to a hospital in the city around 6am.
Two brothers, who had just ended their early morning Subhi prayer, were among the civilians killed by the insurgents.
Another military source said the
city would have been overrun by the Boko Haram members if not for the
deployment of alpha jets from Yola, Adamawa State.
• Jonathan meets NSA, CDS, service chiefs
The Monday incident made President
Goodluck Jonathan to summon the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo
Dasuki (retd.); the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Ibrahim, and
the service chiefs to an emergency meeting.
Schools in the troubled city were immediately closed as parents rushed to them to take their children home.
It also led to imposition of a 24-hour
curfew on Maiduguri by the Borno State Government and the temporary
closure of the airport in the city by the Federal Airports Authority
of Nigeria. All the roads leading to the town were shut.
Maiduguri streets were deserted while
ambulances and security vans were seen conveying corpses to a teaching
hospital from the attacked areas.
Immediately after news of the attack
spread, heavy security presence was noticed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport in Abuja.
The PUNCH however gathered
that Jonathan summoned the NSO, the CDS, the Chief of Air Staff, Air
Vice-Marshal Alex Badeh ; and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubike
Ihejirika, to give him detailed information on the incident and
how to restrategise to curtail Boko Haram’s activities.
No statement was issued after the
closed-door meeting that took place just as the Borno State Government
imposed a 24-hour curfew on the city.
Badeh under whose territory the attack
occurred told State House correspondents in Abuja that only the CDS
could talk on behalf of all the service chiefs.
When approached , Ibrahim simply said, “It (the situation) is being managed” as he briskly walked into his car.
• The affected areas and destroyed property
The insurgents burnt down the Bukumkutu Police Station and razed two vehicles parked on the premises.
They also destroyed 20 buildings and
30 vehicles in the 333 Artillery Regiment of the Nigerian Army and
torched aircraft parked in the 72 Composite Group of the Nigerian Air
Force in the city.
At the Western end of the city, they
set ablaze five filling stations , 20 petrol tankers and trucks. A
trailer park was also attacked by them.
An uncounted number of cars were burnt in the area by the insurgents, who allegedly lost three of their colleagues there.
Residents of the Air-Force base said soldiers and policemen were however able to repel the insurgents.
“We saw several vehicles of the
insurgents up in flames. Some had corpses of people burnt inside,
while some were with slit throats,” one of them claimed.
Another security source had told one
of our correspondents that the terrorists carried out the attack on
the air force base by exploding multiple Improvised Explosive Devices.
According to the source, the IEDs were planted where the military aircraft were parked.
At Moduganari, Bulumkutu and Ngomari settlements, residents said both soldiers and the terrorists died in the confrontation.
“We saw military aircraft in the sky
around 4am,” said Mukhtar Aliyu, a trader who went to Maiduguri Monday
Market before the imposition of the curfew.
A resident of 777 Housing Estate told
journalists that many other civilians had to flee to avoid being
caught up in the attack.
The resident, who gave his name simply
as AbdulRahman, said the insurgents overran the Artillery barracks and
from there, they proceeded to other parts of the town.
• Shettima assesses destruction level
Governor Kashim Shettima, who almost
shed tears while assessing the level of destruction, said no amount
of threat by Boko Haram would make the people of the state to
flee their homeland. He said the people had decided to either
suppress the insurgents or be killed.
Shettima said, “This is our land and we are going nowhere. We are going to flourish or perish here.”
The governor, who was briefed by the
state Commissioner of Police, Lawal Tanko, on the destruction of the
Bulumkutu Police Station, added, “The good news to me is that no
policeman lost his life. We are going to replace the lost vehicles.”
Shettima said though many things were
destroyed by the sect members, he was also pleased that no death was
recorded in the attack on the military facilities.
The governor’s enthusiasm was however
dampened when his attention was drawn to the attack on a private
residence where the sect members killed two brothers shortly after
the 5.15am Muslim prayer.
A member of the family told the
governor, “We were in our home at about 5.20am when some gunmen after
calling people to prayer in the mosque just opposite came in and asked
the head of the family to bring out the key of a pick-up parked in
front of the house.
“He told them that his friend who
parked the van left with the key. But they slaughtered him and went
into the shop in front of the house where his brother was sleeping and
equally slaughtered him.”
The governor almost shed tears when the surviving family members prepared the corpses for burial.
At the 33 Artillery Regiment where
about 20 blocks and 30 vehicles were torched, the soldiers were said
to have fled when they were overwhelmed by the superior fire power
of the terrorists.
Journalists and some government
officials who were in company with the governor on the visit to the 79
Composite Group of the NAF were turned back.
Some of the governor’s aides that were
allowed into the base, came back with tales that it was almost
totally destroyed by the insurgents who burnt down aircraft parked
on the premises.
• Curfew in Maiduguri
The state government, in a statement
by its secretary , Baba Ahmed Jidda, said the 24-hour curfew
would be lifted as soon as the situation improved.
The statement reads in part, “The Borno
State Government in consultation with the GOC 7 Division Nigerian Army,
Maj.- General Obida Ethan, has decided to impose a 24-hour curfew on
Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and its environs, starting from 11am
today (Monday).
“The imposition of the curfew is
necessitated by an attack on Maiduguri by people suspected to be Boko
Haram members in the early hours of today (Monday).
“During the period of the curfew, Borno
State Government pleads with all citizens to remain calm an law-abiding
until the situation is put under control as the security agencies will
do everything possible to preserve lives and property of the citizenry.
“Only vehicles on emergency call and essential services are allowed to move during the period.”
One of our correspondents learnt that passengers at the Maiduguri airport were asked to return to their homes.
Sources at FAAN and the Federal Ministry
of Aviation, said although the Airforce base came under intense
attack, “no passenger plane was burnt by the sect.”
The spokesperson for aviation
parastatals under the ministry, Mr. Yakubu Dati, said, “There was no
attack on the airport. We have closed down the airport and since the
state is under state of emergency, the military has taken charge. The
information available to me now states that there was no attack on the
airport.”
Meanwhile, heavy security presence was seen at the NAIA , Abuja on Monday.
Before Monday’s incident in Maiduguri,
the NAIA had witnessed intense security presence following rumours of
possible attack by the Islamist sect.
On November 21, The PUNCH exclusively
reported how hundreds of travellers and airport users were stuck in a
gridlock caused by armed soldiers conducting a search on motorists at
the toll-gate of the NAIA.
It was also gathered that security
operatives were asked to be on the red alert, especially at the
airports as the Yuletide approaches. This was in respect of the rush and
increase in air travels during the season.
Sources: Punchng
Posted by , Published at 15:24 and have
0
comments
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment