200 Insurgents Feared Killed by Vigilance Group in Borno
Written by Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri
Nigerian Guardian
Commanding officer escapes death in alleged mutiny; army to probe incident
IN a major crackdown, a combined team of vigilance youths and members of Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) on Tuesday morning at Rann Village in Kalabalge Local Council of Borno State have killed over 200 suspected Boko Haram insurgents with the arrest of 10 others.
In an action suspected to be mutinous, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj.-Gen. Ahmadu Mohammed, on Tuesday escaped death while aggrieved soldiers allegedly opened fire on his official vehicle while he was addressing them at the Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri.
However, Director, Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said the army is to institute a military board of inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the conduct of soldiers.
Rann is a border town with Cameroun, and about 160 kilometres northeast of Maiduguri, the state capital.
The incident, according to Banna Modu, a Rann resident, occurred when a gang of suspected terrorists attacked the town and two other villages in Toyota Hilux vehicles, an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) and motorcycles laden with explosives, but were over-powered by the vigilante group and members of CJTF.
“The gallantry of both vigilante and civilian JTF have successfully foiled Boko Haram planned attack on our town last night by confronting the suspected insurgents with weapons and charms to blindfold them for over half an hour that night,” Modu said.
He added: “Many of the attackers in this town were killed by our gallant youths, along with the arrest of 10 other insurgents with rifles and other ammunition that could not fire any shot at residents. These boys took the risks of their lives by confronting the insurgents and killed over 200 of them.”
The Guardian also learnt yesterday that Rann residents, before the attempted attack, had fortified the town against any attacks by suspected insurgents at dawn.
“That is why most attacks by the Boko Haram on our town and other villages continue to fail because they cannot come in here and start shooting and killing people; it is impossible,” explained Modu.
The insurgents had repeatedly attempted to attack Kalabalge, an agro-nomad community near the Cameroun border, but failed to gain entry into the village on each attempt.
Residents said the villagers had made security arrangement to forestall any attack on the community, which is the headquarters of Kalabalge Local Council.
“We have told them (Boko Haram) that they cannot take their attacks to our village because we have taken measures both securitywise and spiritually to prevent them”, said a vigilante member in the community who pleaded anonymity.
“They wanted to attack us just the way they did in Bama, Konduga and Damboa, but we got the wind of it and all of us laid ambush for them; when they neared the village, we opened fire using our Dane duns, double barrel rifles and bows-and-arrows. Most of them, who were shocked, took to their heels, but many of them died. Some that were injured have been caught alive and are with the security people as I am talking with you”, said the vigilante member.
A top security source, who confirmed the incident to The Guardian on phone, said that it took the vigilante group and CJTF three hours to foil the attempted attack on Rann.
The military personnel further disclosed: “The insurgents tried to attack the residents as at 5.00 a.m. (Tuesday) but the vigilante and some members of the village who got the hint of the attack laid ambush and were able to kill as many of them as possible, while about 10 of them were caught alive; they also recovered two trucks from the insurgents.”
Reports from two separate sources at the military barracks yesterday said that after troops went to Chibok Local Council for the rescue of abducted school girls, they were however attacked at the night while returning to Maiduguri.
The attack, according to a source, could have been avoided if the GOC allowed the soldiers spend the night in one of the villages on the Maiduguri-Chibok road.
“We requested our oga to allow all of us to spend the night in one of the villages, but he refused and ordered us to come back the same day and report to Maiduguri unfailingly,” said the source.
Another source also told The Guardian yesterday that the soldiers were returning from an operation in Kala/Balge Local Council of the state after they were instructed by their superiors to withdraw from the assignment and return to Maiduguri immediately.
On their return to Maiduguri, according to him, the soldiers were ambushed where a dozen of them were feared killed.
“The corpses of the slain soldiers arrived Maimalari Barracks at a time the GOC wanted to address another troops on the ongoing operation against insurgency, but the soldiers on sighting the corpses of their colleagues, became aggrieved and started shooting sporadically, while others opened fire on the GOC’s official vehicle where he narrowly escaped death”, the source added.
The source added that the soldiers were also piqued by the deduction of their allowances and poor working conditions.
Olukolade added: “The incident occurred when the corpses of four soldiers who died in an ambush while returning from patrol duties in Chibok was being conveyed to the morgue.
“There is calm in the cantonment and all normal operations activities are ongoing.”
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| Suspected Boko Haram members in northeastern Nigeria. |
Nigerian Guardian
Commanding officer escapes death in alleged mutiny; army to probe incident
IN a major crackdown, a combined team of vigilance youths and members of Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) on Tuesday morning at Rann Village in Kalabalge Local Council of Borno State have killed over 200 suspected Boko Haram insurgents with the arrest of 10 others.
In an action suspected to be mutinous, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj.-Gen. Ahmadu Mohammed, on Tuesday escaped death while aggrieved soldiers allegedly opened fire on his official vehicle while he was addressing them at the Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri.
However, Director, Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said the army is to institute a military board of inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the conduct of soldiers.
Rann is a border town with Cameroun, and about 160 kilometres northeast of Maiduguri, the state capital.
The incident, according to Banna Modu, a Rann resident, occurred when a gang of suspected terrorists attacked the town and two other villages in Toyota Hilux vehicles, an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) and motorcycles laden with explosives, but were over-powered by the vigilante group and members of CJTF.
“The gallantry of both vigilante and civilian JTF have successfully foiled Boko Haram planned attack on our town last night by confronting the suspected insurgents with weapons and charms to blindfold them for over half an hour that night,” Modu said.
He added: “Many of the attackers in this town were killed by our gallant youths, along with the arrest of 10 other insurgents with rifles and other ammunition that could not fire any shot at residents. These boys took the risks of their lives by confronting the insurgents and killed over 200 of them.”
The Guardian also learnt yesterday that Rann residents, before the attempted attack, had fortified the town against any attacks by suspected insurgents at dawn.
“That is why most attacks by the Boko Haram on our town and other villages continue to fail because they cannot come in here and start shooting and killing people; it is impossible,” explained Modu.
The insurgents had repeatedly attempted to attack Kalabalge, an agro-nomad community near the Cameroun border, but failed to gain entry into the village on each attempt.
Residents said the villagers had made security arrangement to forestall any attack on the community, which is the headquarters of Kalabalge Local Council.
“We have told them (Boko Haram) that they cannot take their attacks to our village because we have taken measures both securitywise and spiritually to prevent them”, said a vigilante member in the community who pleaded anonymity.
“They wanted to attack us just the way they did in Bama, Konduga and Damboa, but we got the wind of it and all of us laid ambush for them; when they neared the village, we opened fire using our Dane duns, double barrel rifles and bows-and-arrows. Most of them, who were shocked, took to their heels, but many of them died. Some that were injured have been caught alive and are with the security people as I am talking with you”, said the vigilante member.
A top security source, who confirmed the incident to The Guardian on phone, said that it took the vigilante group and CJTF three hours to foil the attempted attack on Rann.
The military personnel further disclosed: “The insurgents tried to attack the residents as at 5.00 a.m. (Tuesday) but the vigilante and some members of the village who got the hint of the attack laid ambush and were able to kill as many of them as possible, while about 10 of them were caught alive; they also recovered two trucks from the insurgents.”
Reports from two separate sources at the military barracks yesterday said that after troops went to Chibok Local Council for the rescue of abducted school girls, they were however attacked at the night while returning to Maiduguri.
The attack, according to a source, could have been avoided if the GOC allowed the soldiers spend the night in one of the villages on the Maiduguri-Chibok road.
“We requested our oga to allow all of us to spend the night in one of the villages, but he refused and ordered us to come back the same day and report to Maiduguri unfailingly,” said the source.
Another source also told The Guardian yesterday that the soldiers were returning from an operation in Kala/Balge Local Council of the state after they were instructed by their superiors to withdraw from the assignment and return to Maiduguri immediately.
On their return to Maiduguri, according to him, the soldiers were ambushed where a dozen of them were feared killed.
“The corpses of the slain soldiers arrived Maimalari Barracks at a time the GOC wanted to address another troops on the ongoing operation against insurgency, but the soldiers on sighting the corpses of their colleagues, became aggrieved and started shooting sporadically, while others opened fire on the GOC’s official vehicle where he narrowly escaped death”, the source added.
The source added that the soldiers were also piqued by the deduction of their allowances and poor working conditions.
Olukolade added: “The incident occurred when the corpses of four soldiers who died in an ambush while returning from patrol duties in Chibok was being conveyed to the morgue.
“There is calm in the cantonment and all normal operations activities are ongoing.”
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