The Boko Haram terrorists on Saturday seized Hong, the administrative headquarters of Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
This followed closely on the heels of the recent rout of the insurgents in Mubi by the combined efforts of local hunters and civilian JTF, which resulted in killing several insurgents and chasing them out of Mubi and Mahia.
The latest takeover is more of a reprisal attack on the community by the insurgents.
A security source disclosed that the attack on Hong town occurred in the early hours of Saturday after the residents had been misled to believe that the rampaging sect members had fled the area on account of their fear of the local hunters.
According to the source, the insurgents burnt down a police station and killed an undisclosed number of persons.
Confirming the attack on the area, a former minister of state for health and later for foreign affairs, Dr. Aliyu Idi Hong, an indigene of the area, told journalists in the state capital Yola that the insurgents set a police station ablaze but could not state the exact number of casualties, as the details still remained sketchy.
Dr. Hong disclosed that the sect members had attacked two villages in Hong Local Government area a few days earlier, killing at least five persons.
A local resident also revealed that the militants had attacked the residence of a retired general near Hong.
At about 2pm on Saturday, the insurgents were reported to have taken control of Hong, even as hopeful local residents said the local hunters had been alerted to come to the rescue of the besieged town.
Even fleeing residents of Hong echoed their optimism that their town would be delivered from the clutches of the Boko Haram insurgents before sunset by the hunters.
Military authorities in Yola could not be reached for comment on the attack.
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