Borno:‘Terrorists’ move against military, kill policemen

Posted by admin Armed Forces, Borno, Latest Politics, Nigerian Police Friday, December 31st, 2010

SUSPECTED members of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, who on Tuesday killed a policeman and two others in a teaching hospital in Maiduguri, Borno State, renewed their offensive on Wednesday in the state capital.
Wherever they struck, either a resident or a security officer was brought down in cold bold.

Embattled residents in the scenes of fierce fighting, who were holed up in their homes, described the latest violence as a near state of war. The hoodlums, who made men of the military and police task force their targets, also burnt their patrol vehicles.

In three of the attacks, the rampaging Muslim fanatics killed three policemen. A resident, fleeing one of the scenes of the fighting was not spared by the hoodlums, who shot and killed him.

The attacks and killings were reportedly launched simultaneously on Wednesday between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. at the Dala Bus Stop in Bulunkutu ward and Alamderi near Baga Road Muna Motor Park. At Bulunkutu, one person died from bullets pumped into his limbs by the suspected terrorists.

Two persons were killed at Alamderi by the gunmen, who also ambushed three policemen before killing them at Muna Motor Park on the Gamborou/Ngala Road.

One of the patrol vehicles of the joint military/police task force was first attacked and later set ablaze by the “terrorists” believed to carry petro-bombs in their operations.

Similar attacks were also launched at the Railway Quarters, close to the enclave of Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of the outlawed sect, where one person was killed.

At Umarari Borehole, north of Baga Road, a resident was killed while attempting to flee from the exchange of gunfire between the armed men and security operatives on patrol.

Confirming the serial attacks and killings, Police spokesman, Lawal Abdullahi and the Nigerian Army counterpart, Lt. Abubakar Abdullahi, said the incidents took about three hours, stating that they were directed at policemen and soldiers patrolling the streets and guarding churches in Maiduguri.

Lawan however said only three policemen and a civilian were killed. “Yes there was an attack on our men last night (Wednesday). We lost three policemen but we are on top of the situation. We are sure of victory and the culprits will be brought to book soonest. The affected areas are calm now,” he told The Guardian yesterday.

He lamented that members of the general public are hesitant in giving the police and the Army vital information that could assist them arrest the suspects for the alleged serial attacks and killings.

In the Jos, Plateau State violence, which occurred on Christmas eve, where about 80 people have been confirmed dead in twin bomb blasts, the Deputy Governor State and governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Pauline Tallen, has denied any link with the attacks. She also cautioned her boos, Governor Jonah Jang against resorting to blackmail in his alleged bid to stop her from realizing ambition of governing the state from next year.

According to her, she has done nothing wrong to deserve the current unpleasant attacks from the state government and its agents.
Addressing journalists yesterday in Jos on her alleged involvement in the Christmas Eve bomb blasts that rocked two communities in the state capital, Tallen accused the governor of playing to the gallery by his actions, which were centred on his ambition instead of the people.

She said: “I am even pained that in the midst of this chaotic situation, the leadership in the state is more concerned about its ambition rather than the lives of the ordinary Plateau people affected by the bomb blasts.”

When contacted on the Tallen’s allegations, the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Gregory Yenlong, simply said: “Nemesis will catch up with her; she was not known in the state before she was made a deputy governor. She cannot be a threat to the governor; she is only chasing her own shadows.”

But the deputy governor cited a series of sponsored advertorials in some national dailies, which she insisted were aimed at tarnishing her image and “genuine love for humanity.”

She declared that the leadership in the state “frequent excuses in crisis situations that it has no control of the security apparatus leaves a lot of question marks.”

Tallen added that “a state leadership with all the apparatus at its disposal is supposed to adequately protect its people. The inability of the present leadership in the state to use all the human and material resources at its disposal to protect life and property of the citizens, but is quick to apportion blames to others without full scale investigation, shows poor leadership skills.”

To those who lost their loved ones in the blasts, Tallen said: “I am totally with you weeping over the loss of our brothers and sisters,” adding that she would continue to pray for them for the good Lord to comfort them in their bereavement.wp_posts