About 12 soldiers including a colonel,
the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, three policemen and four civilians were
feared killed at the weekend when about 200 terrorists operating in many Toyota
Hilux vehicles attacked Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State.
According to the
Vanguard reports, the structure housing the Divisional Police Headquarters in
the area, markets, houses and vehicles were also destroyed during the encounter
between the terrorists and the armed forces.
No fewer than 50
of the terrorists were, however, said to have been killed when ground troops
and Air Force fighter jets engaged the attackers, sources said.
The incident
took place on Friday at about 5 pm when the insurgents, who, according to
sources, came with two anti aircraft guns mounted on two of their pick-up vans,
different types of improvised explosive devices, EIDs, rocket-propelled
launchers, stormed the town in what the sources described as a revenge mission
targeted at the 195 Battalion of the 7 Division, Nigerian Army, and police
formations.
This came on a
day two suicide bombers, at a checkpoint, manned by members of the Civilian
JTF, killed five members of the vigilante youths, injuring many of
them including passersby.
Some terrorists
also laid ambush along the busy Maiduguri-Mafa-Dikwa Road killing about 15
passengers and motorists.
The Friday
attack was the second time Boko Haram insurgents had attempted to attack a
military base in Damboa town, 85 kilometers south of Maiduguri, Borno State
capital, but ended up with heavy casualty.
According to a Sunday Vanguard source,
the Boko Haram insurgents seemed to be on a reprisal mission, hours after
an Air Frce jet bombarded their base in Yajiwa and Alagarno areas of Damboa
local government area killing scores of the insurgents.
The source
narrated: “It was a successful air raid carried out by the Air Force in
conjunction with the ground troops of the Nigeria Army from 7 Division. During
the air raid that took place in the evening, the Boko Haram suffered heavy
casualty as dozens of them were killed. Angered by the devastation they
suffered, the insurgents decided to mobilise in full force with an attempt to
attack the base in Damboa, but, unknown to them, the soldiers there were fully
aware and alert about possible reprisal attack. And when they eventually
surfaced on Friday, in over ten vehicles, the soldiers took them by surprise
and engaged them in a fierce shoot out that claimed over 50 of them,
unfortunately we also lost over 10 of our officers and men in the encounter”.
A senior local
government officer from Damboa, who claimed to have witnessed the deadly attack
but survived and had to relocate to Maiduguri told Sunday Vanguard in
Maiduguri that Damboa council area came under attack, by suspected Boko Haram
terrorists on Friday evening.
His words: “Some
gunmen suspected to be insurgents in military uniform stormed Damboa where they
exchanged gun fire with the military and policemen. During the encounter, many
of the terrorists were killed.
But, unfortunately, the insurgents succeeded in killing 12
soldiers including the Commanding Officer, Colonel Abubakar Chamba . They also
killed about three policemen and a DPO, four civilians, before setting ablaze
the police station in the town, the newly renovated Damboa market among other
government structures.
“As I am talking to you now, myself and the Secretary of the Council have relocated to Maiduguri, as the place is no longer safe for us”.
The response to
a text message to the cell phone of the Director, Defence Information, Major
General Chris Olukolade, at press time on the army officer and soldiers killed
in the Friday incident, said: “OK, I have seen your message, give me a while
please. I will get back to you”.
However, the
Borno State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Gideon Jubrin,
confirmed the attack on Damboa by suspected terrorists, but insisted he was yet
to get details on casualties from both sides.
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