Boko Haram slaughters 6 in Maiduguri •Multiple bomb explosions rock city •Army relocates Division to Gombe

LESS than 48 hours after the arrest of Abul Qaqa, a Boko Haram chieftain in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital by the State Security Service (SSS), six persons said to be relations of the 11 members of the Boko Haram sect earlier killed at Kawarmaila in Shehuri North by the Joint Task Force on Operation Restore Order in Borno State were attacked and slaughtered by unknown persons.
Citizens of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, wondered that with the current security situation in the state and curfew in place, some people were still being attacked and killed in their sleep by suspected persons believed to be members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect.
Residents of the area who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune by phone said that those killed in the area were attacked and killed between the hours of 7.00 p.m. and 9.00 p.m., when the curfew was in place and active.
“We do not know whether government is serious about the security situation in the state, with curfew in place when it is much effective that some criminals would go into people’s houses and kill them, when we say we have security all over the place. This is unfortunate and a minus for government and security agents in the state,” Kabura Manu said.
According to him, it was reported that, the six people killed on Wednesday night, at Kawarmaila in Shehuri North, were said to be those who gave information to security agents on the 11 members of the Boko Haram sect that were killed last week in the area.
Confirming the incident in a statement, the JTF spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Ifijeh Mohammed, on Thursday, in Maiduguri, said that preliminary investigation revealed that the six deceased were suspected to have been slaughtered by persons suspected to be their fellow sect members.
According to the statement by the JTF, the incident occurred in the area where 11 sect members had an encounter with the JTF troops last weekend.
“The killing may have been as a result of division among sect members. The JTF will continue to be proactive in dealing with Boko Haram,” the statement read.
JTF also said improvised explosive device (IED) explosions occurred in the early hours of Thursday in Maiduguri metropolis, while some unexploded IEDs were defused by the JTF with no casualty recorded.
Meanwhile, the JTF has advised the people to be conscious of happenings in their environment and report promptly to security agencies using the JTF hotlines (07085464012, 080154429346 and 08085464012).
Meanwhile, following the killings and destruction of properties, especially in the north eastern part of the country by the Boko Haram sect, the Army Headquarters has directed 3 Division of the Nigerian Army to move its headquarters to Gombe State to properly co-ordinate and fight activities of criminals in the region.
The division has also destroyed some settlements belonging to the Boko Haram sect, especially in Damaturu and arrested many of its members, most whom were undergoing interrogations in various parts of the area of operations of the division.

Story: TRIBUNE