Suspected Islamic militants kill eight in Borno

Posted by admin Borno, Latest Politics, State News Thursday, December 30th, 2010

Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, was the scene of yet another bloodbath on Wednesday night as assailants believed to be members of a radical Islamic group killed eight people, including three policemen, in the city.

An army spokesman, Lt. Abubakar Abdullahi, told the Agence France Presse by telephone that the members of the group known as Boko Haram struck at five different locations in the city.

“Eight people, including three policemen were killed late Wednesday in five separate attacks by gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram sect,” Abdullahi said.

He explained that ”the policemen were killed in Ruwan Zafi district of Maiduguri in an attack on a police patrol team,” adding that many suspects had been arrested over the incidents.

Police spokesman in the state, Mr. Lawal Abdullahi, also confirmed that three policemen were killed in the attack.

Abdullahi said, ”We lost three men in a shoot out with suspected members of the outlawed Boko Haram when its members launched an attack on one of our patrol vehicles and burnt it.

The policemen were outnumbered by the attackers.”

Another Islamic group, Jama’atu Alhlus Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, had claimed responsibility for the Christmas eve bombings in Jos, Plateau State and attacks on churches in Maiduguri.

Jama’atu Alhlus Sunnah Lidda’ Awati Wal Jihad, was also reported to have killed three people, including a police officer, in a hospital in the Borno State capital on Tuesday night.

In Jos, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abdulrahman Akano, said that a secondary school teacher in Barakin Ladi was being interrogated over the explosion on Tuesday.

Akano had said on Wednesday that the explosion occurred when the teacher was conducting an experiment during a class with his pupils at the Islamic Orientation School.

The teacher, who is in the custody of the police, was said to have been badly burnt on the face and hands.

Akano, who said that calm had returned to the state, appealed to the residents of Jos to remain law abiding and to cooperate with security agencies in their efforts to stem the violence in the city.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government will soon roll out a public security communications network to tackle the rising cases of violence in the country.

The network will be managed by the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited in collaboration with security agencies in the country.

The Managing Director of NigComSat Limited, Mr. Ahmed Rufai, made this known at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday night.

He also disclosed that the Federal Government would embark on the construction of two new communications satellites as soon as the NigComSat-1(R) was completed.

NigComSat-1(R) is expected to provide the transmission backbone for the network as it is designed to be an all-Internet Protocol network.

It will also be used to backhaul Internet Protocol from United States and Europe into Nigeria to ensure there is national coverage everywhere at all times.

The satellite is the replacement for the first Nigerian Communications Satellite known as NigComSat-1 inaugurated in the orbit in May 2007. It however, developed a problem with its power supply system on November 8, 2008.

Following this, the firm that handled its construction, China Great Wall Industry Corporation, undertook to replace the satellite at no cost to the country.

Ahmed told journalists at the interactive session that “NigComSat Limited has been appointed by the Ministry of Finance to oversee the implementation of the public security communications network.”