About 60 persons suspected to be Boko Haram insurgents have been confirmed dead, during a fierce battle between the sect members and members of the Joint Military Task Force, JTF, in Jigawa State.
Director of Press to Governor Sule Lamido of the state, Malam Umar Kyari who confirmed the story in Dutse the state capital, said that the incident took place at the Lamba Forest in Gwaram Local Government Area.
Kyari said that the insurgents had earlier planted a bomb on the road leading to the forest, Monday night which exploded, killing three members of the JTF, inside a Toyota Hilux vehicle with many others sustaining serious injuries.
However, in a reprisal attack on Wednesday night, soldiers attached to the JTF otherwise known as operation Salama were said to have surrounded and bombarded the forest which consequently led to the mass killing of the insurgents.
”Around 11 o’clock on Wednesday night, the military commander who led the operation, told Governor Lamido that over 60 corpses of the insurgent were found scattered in the forest.”
In a related development, a group of gunmen suspected to be terrorists riding on four motorcycles invaded the Alau Ngawo Fatoye Village in Jere Local Government Area of Borno State on Thursday, killing two residents and injuring nine others after setting ablaze many houses and shops.
This was the second time Ngawo Fatoye village was witnessing deadly attacks by suspected Boko Haram sect.
The first attack occurred in January this year when scores of residents were killed and property worth millions of Naira destroyed by the insurgents.
Alau, Ngawo Fatoye in the south east is about 10 kilometres drive from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
A resident of the village, Mallam Bukar Mustapha who spoke on the attack said that the “gunmen numbering 12 and using four motorcycles, with each carrying three invaded Ngawo Fatoye at about 9pm on Wednesday and opened fire on residents.
”The insurgents who were all armed with AK47 rifles and petrol bombs killed two residents (names withheld), burnt several houses and shops, before carting away foodstuff and livestock”. Mustapha said.
Another source said, the gunmen had a field day as they wrecked havoc on the village while chanting Allahu Akbar (God is Great) in Arabic language.
”As I am talking to you today (yesterday) some of our people are still missing. Some of us ran into the bush for our safety but unfortunately, the security agencies are yet to be deployed to the scene, not to talk of making any arrest,” the source added.
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