Haram sect have again invaded the Borno
villages of Ngoshe and Kaigamari, in Gwoza
and Konduga Local Government Areas,
respectively, killing 38 people.
The insurgents also set ablaze several houses
and shops in addition to destroying mobile
telecommunications masts in the area.
Ngoshe is located east of hilly Gwoza town,
between Cameroon border with Nigeria, while
Kaigamari is a remote settlement in Konduga,
a town which has always been under the siege
of the Boko Haram terrorists.
Gwoza is about 140 kilometres south, while
Konduga is 40 kilometres drive from
Maiduguri, the state capital.
It was gathered from a source that "the
gunmen, armed with Improvised Explosive
Devices, petrol bombs, AK 47 rifles and rocket
propelled grenades invaded Ngoshe at about
10pm on Saturday and opened fire on the
already sleeping and unarmed residents,
killing 30 of them and inflicting injuries on
several others, before setting ablaze some
houses."
Also in Kaigamari, no fewer than eight people
were said to have been killed on Sunday when
another set of gunmen attacked the village
and torched some houses and shops.
An eyewitness, who said he was lucky to
escape the attack in Ngoshe, Mallam Usman
Jidda, told journalists in Maiduguri that the
gunmen who were sighted some few days back
in between the mountainous areas of Ngoshe
and Limankara villages had a field day killing
and destroying houses without being
challenged by security operatives in the area.
"I thank God for sparing my life and those of
the members of my family as we were able to
escape the attack, we are now settling with
one of my relatives in Gwoza council area. I
can confirm to you that more than 30 people
were killed by the insurgents in Ngoshe, apart
from the destruction of property worth
millions of naira," Jidda stated.
The attack in Kaigamari village near the state
capital was said to have forced surviving
residents to flee the area to Maiduguri on
Sunday.
The insurgents were also said to have attacked
Hamsa in Gwoza Hills in Borno State.
Investigations revealed that the attackers
came to the besieged area through Kwatara
and encamped against the community at Tate.
The source said that the "operation started
around 5pm on Saturday and lasted all
through the night."
Although, the source could not give the
casualty figure in the latest attacks, it was
stated that a relative of the leader of the
Church of Christ in Nations in the area was
among the dead.
But the Director of Defence Information,
Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said on the
telephone on Sunday that the operation to
flush out the insurgents in the Gwoza hills
was still ongoing.
He stated that the area was very vast as it
extends to Adamawa State and Cameroon.
He said, "The operation to flush out the
insurgents is still going on; that place is very
vast, the Special Forces have taken over a part
of the hill; you know that it extends to
Adamawa and, Cameroon…"
However, Olukolade said in a statement on
Sunday that several makeshift insurgents'
camps in the forest and mountains had been
dislodged in ongoing ground and aerial
bombardments
He stated that the security forces had noted
the "presence of unarmed members of
terrorist groups in some villages."
He said that the Special Forces had been
directed to ensure aggressive patrol of local
communities to complement the ongoing
assault on the insurgents.
Meanwhile, the Sultan of Sokoto and President
General of the Jama'atu Nasril Islam, Alhaji
Sa'ad Abubakar lll, lamented on Sunday that
the killings in the country under the guise of
insurgency was spreading at an alarming rate.
The sultan, who spoke at the 50th Anniversary
Lecture of the JNI in Kaduna on Sunday, asked
the Federal Government to curb the ugly
development.
He said, "We have discussed with government
on the National Conference and how to make
it a success. We don't want another jamboree,
we have been giving advice to our leaders it is
left for them to take the advice or jettison
them.
"Everyday we hear of people killed in different
parts of the country. It is a nightmare that is
spreading to parts of the country in the name
of cattle rustling. We are worried about the
Muslims, Christians and Fulani being killed
because life is sacred.
"Why are we fighting one another in the name
of ethnicity and religion; we should all go
about our religion peacefully. Our non-Muslim
brothers should join us to look at problems
bedeviling the country and find solutions," he
said.
The Vice President, Namadi Sambo, assured
that the Federal Government was doing all it
could to arrest the ugly trend.
Sambo promised that the perceived imbalance
raised by the Sultan would be addressed,
noting that the government would ensure
fairness and equity in all its dealings with
Nigerians irrespective of religion.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in
Borno State, Alhaji Lawal Tanko, said no
candidate for the Unified Tertiary
Matriculation Examination on Saturday was
killed in the state.
Tanko was reacting to an online report that
200 candidates were killed in one of the
centres in Maiduguri by suspected Boko
Haram insurgents.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria that "I was
directly in charge of the police operations to
ensure safety of the candidates in all the
examination venues in Maiduguri."
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