JTF, youths arrest 30 suspected Boko Haram members

Posted by admin Armed Forces, Boko Haram, Headlines Wednesday, June 12th, 2013

Task force explains roads closure in Borno

IN a joint action, the military Joint Task Force (JTF) and youth associations in Hausari, Fezzan and Bulabulin Gwange areas of Maiduguri have arrested 30 suspected Boko Haram members in various parts of the metropolis.

Meanwhile, the JTF has said that the two roads leading to the now destroyed Boko Haram “training camps and hide-outs” at Sambisa Games Reserves Forest in Borno State will remain closed to motorists and cyclists to prevent fleeing suspected terrorists from entering Maiduguri metropolis and neighbouring communities.

The youths, led by their chairman, Abubakar Mallum and deputy, Isa Musa, carried out the raid in five separate locations.

Speaking on the youths’ role in the arrest of Boko Haram members, Mallum said: “These gunmen have been terrorising us in our respective communities and wards and killed many of our parents, brothers and sisters. They have also caused a lot of violence and insecurity in Maiduguri. Please, I want you all newsmen here in this city to continue to pray for all us who sacrificed our lives in the manhunt of these people in our midst.”

He added: “We also thank the soldiers for giving us the moral support in the hunt for these Boko Haram sect members with ordinary sticks and cutlasses since last Friday, when we arrested three of them in Hausari ward with a mock coffin in a pickup van.”

Confirming the youths’ role in the arrest of suspects in Maiduguri, the JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, Tuesday said: “Our men were right there when these youths alert them. On reaching the affected area, some Boko Haram suspects were arrested by members of the youths vigilance group in Hausari ward.”

Musa commended the youths for assisting soldiers to arrest these terrorist suspects, adding the youths have also renewed their efforts in supporting the JTF in its current operations.”

The affected roads are the 187-kilometre Maiduguri-Biu and 135-kilometre Maiduguri-Gwoza highways linking about 12 communities and a border town with Cameroun.

Speaking on the closure yesterday in Maiduguri, Musa said: “As the military special force operations are going on, the roads had to be closed to prevent the fleeing Boko Haram terrorists from infiltrating into Maiduguri and other communities bordering Borno, where terrorists’ training camps and hide-outs were destroyed last month.”

-Guardianwp_posts