Tag: boko haram

Suspected members of the Boko Haram sect in the early hours of Wednesday attacked Borno state town of Banki, killing a policemen and injured others.

They also invaded private houses killing unspecified number of people before escaping.

Borno State Commissioner of Police Lawal Tanko confirmed the attack.

“I confirm there was an attack on Banki town by suspected members of the Boko Haram in the early hours of Wednesday.

“The police station in the town was partially affected. I lost an officer and some of my men sustained injuries,’’ Tanko said.

A resident of the town, Mr John Samuel, who survived the attack, told reporters in Maiduguri that the attackers rode on motorcycles and Hilux vehicles and used sophisticated weapons.

“They drove from the bush around 2 a.m. on motorcycles and Hilux vehicles and carried sophisticated weapons,’’ he said.

Samuel said the gunmen used rocket propellers to attack the police station which led to fire outbreak

“Some policemen at the station tried to engage the gunmen in a shootout, but when they realised that the invaders had superior power, they fled,’’ he said.

He said the gunmen also raided homes and killed some residents of the town before fleeing.

The battle against the sect has spread to neuighbouring country Cameroun. Officials said Cameroonian forces got involved in fighting between Nigeria’s army and the Boko Haram in a border town in Cameroon that killed at least one woman on Cameroonian soil and wounded five other people.

Col. Tatang Francis, a military police commander in northern Cameroon, said yesterday that civilians from Banki fled across the border on Wednesday to escape heavy gunfire and that Cameroonian forces responded to repel Boko Haram attackers who also tried to cross over. He said officials arrested scores of people including suspected members of Boko Haram, which has been staging attacks in northeast Nigeria.

State radio reported that one woman in Cameroon was killed and five other shooting victims were taken to hospitals. Buildings and vehicles were damaged

The Jama’atul Nasrul Islam (JNI) yesterday urged the Federal Government to investigate Tuesday’s bomb blast in Maiduguri, which killed more than 30 persons.

It made the call in a statement by its Secretary-General Dr Khalid Aliyu, in Kaduna.

“JNI hereby calls on the government to thoroughly investigate the incident even as we caution politicians to fear Allah and think of the consequences of their provocative utterances on the incident,” the statement said.

It said “the heartless and barbaric act had reached a drastic stage, which required urgent solution.”

The statement said ‘’the satanic act was becoming an alarming conundrum given the heavily visible military presence in the state.

“We are puzzled by this escalating tragedy that is seemingly grabbing the nation by the jugular.”

It commended the National Assembly for passing the bill banning same sex marriage in Nigeria and applauded President Goodluck Jonathan for signing the bill into law despite pressure from some quarters.

An alarming United States (U.S.) travel advisory warns that the Boko Haram uprising could expand out of the North and counsels against travel to 16 states, saying Americans have suffered violent crimes from kidnappings and rape to home invasions.

The advisory says nine foreign nationals including Americans died last year in kidnappings in southwest Nigeria, three of them killed by their captors during military-led rescue raids.

The advisory posted at the U.S. State Department website and dated Jan. 8 tells citizens to expect little help from law enforcers known for harassing and shaking down foreigners and Nigerians at checkpoints.

It says U.S. missionaries in northern Nigeria have received “night letters” — covertly distributed specific written threats to their safety.

Pointing to possible targets of extremists, it says U.S. citizens should be particularly vigilant around government security facilities; churches, mosques, and other places of worship; locations where large crowds gather such as hotels, clubs, beer parlours, restaurants, markets and shopping malls; and all other areas frequented by expatriates and foreign travelers.

The North has more Muslims than Christians, which continues despite an 8-month-long state of emergency that deployed thousands of troops to three states covering one-sixth of the country.

“Late 2013 saw an increase in Boko Haram attacks and clashes with Nigerian government security forces in northern Nigeria,” the travel advisory says. “Boko Haram is known to descend on whole towns, robbing banks and businesses, attacking police and military installations, and setting fire to private homes.”

It warns “U.S. citizens should be aware that extremists could expand their operations beyond northern Nigeria to other areas of the country.” Boko Haram already operates in neighboring Chad, from which it kidnapped a French priest who was released earlier this month, and militants from Chad, Niger and Cameroon have been reported fighting alongside Boko Haram in Nigeria, raising fears the rebellion could also spread beyond Nigeria’s borders.

The United States advises against all but essential travel to all 13 northern and central-northern Nigerian states as well as central Plateau state, for years the site of deadly ethnic-religious clashes, and the oil-rich southwestern states of Delta and Bayelsa, on the Gulf of Guinea where piracy is on the rise and militancy by activists demanding a bigger share of oil riches from a government embroiled in numerous corruption scandals.

Kidnappings of foreigners and attacks against Nigerian police forces in the Niger Delta region and in Lagos State, home to the commercial capital Lagos city, continue to be a danger, it says. “Criminals or militants have abducted foreign nationals, including U.S. citizens, from offshore and land-based oil facilities, residential compounds, and public roadways.”

It adds that international companies and local authorities assert that the number of kidnapping incidents throughout Nigeria is underreported.

And home invasions “remain a serious threat,” with armed robbers getting into even heavily guarded compounds.

“Violent crimes occur throughout the country,” the advisory says. “U.S. citizen visitors and residents have experienced armed muggings, assaults, burglaries, armed robberies, carjackings, rapes, kidnappings, and extortion.”

The military said yesterday that they had killed as many as 38 Boko Haram fighters during counter-insurgency operations in Borno State.

Army spokesman Colonel Muhammad Dole said troops on patrol foiled a planned attack on local residents and a military camp in Damboa, Borno State and inflicted “heavy casualties”.

“While the encounter lasted, 38 Boko Haram terrorists were killed and some fled with various degrees of injuries,” the officer said in an emailed statement, adding that three vehicles were destroyed.

One of the vehicles was found to have cylinders and improvised explosive devices. Weapons and ammunition, including machine guns, were also recovered, he said.

One soldier was killed and two others were injured in the encounter, he said.

“Combined ground troops and Nigerian Air Force aircraft are tactically pursuing the fleeing terrorists in the ongoing operation in the general area of Damboa and surrounding villages,” Col. Dole added.

Damboa is nearly 90 kilometres southwest of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Boko Haram, deemed a terrorist organisation by the United States, has been fighting a bloody insurgency in the North since 2009, attacking schools which follow a “Western” curriculum and churches as well as military and police targets.

The government last May imposed a state of emergency in Borno and two other neighbouring states, Yobe and Adamawa, in an attempt to stem the violence, which has claimed thousands of lives.

Another statement signed yesterday by Colonel Timothy Antigha on behalf of the Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Olajide Laleye, indicated that some of the arms recovered from the insurgents included Browning Machine Guns, Light Machine Guns, General Purpose Machine Guns and AK 47 rifles.

It added: “However, one soldier of the Battalion was killed in action. One of the captured vehicles; a Toyota Sienna vehicle was laden with Improvised Explosive Devices (IED).

“In the light of this continuous threat to the security of lives and property, the Nigerian Army wishes to assure all Nigerians of its continued readiness to meet and defeat threats to the peace and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“To this effect, the general public is enjoined to continue to provide useful information that would assist the Nigerian Army in discharging its constitutional responsibilities”, the statement added.