Scores
of civilians and security operatives were killed on Monday morning
by suspected Boko Haram terrorists, who unleashed mayhem on military
facilities and areas inhabited by civilians in Maiduguri, Borno State.
The attacks by the insurgents, who
rode into the troubled city in different vehicles, including an
armoured personnel carrier, chanting Islamic slogans, were said to
have lasted for about six hours before they were curtailed.
The Director of Defence Information,
Brig.–Gen. Chris Olukolade, in an electronic mail on Monday, said
that 24 insurgents were killed in the attacks which also resulted in
the wounding of two Nigerian Air Force personnel.
Although Olukolade was silent on the
civilian casualty, a resident of the Gomari area, a few kilometres to
the Maiduguri International Airport, said he saw five trucks conveying
dead soldiers to a hospital in the city around 6am.
Two brothers, who had just ended their early morning Subhi prayer, were among the civilians killed by the insurgents.
Another military source said the
city would have been overrun by the Boko Haram members if not for the
deployment of alpha jets from Yola, Adamawa State.
• Jonathan meets NSA, CDS, service chiefs
The Monday incident made President
Goodluck Jonathan to summon the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo
Dasuki (retd.); the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Ibrahim, and
the service chiefs to an emergency meeting.
Schools in the troubled city were immediately closed as parents rushed to them to take their children home.
It also led to imposition of a 24-hour
curfew on Maiduguri by the Borno State Government and the temporary
closure of the airport in the city by the Federal Airports Authority
of Nigeria. All the roads leading to the town were shut.
Maiduguri streets were deserted while
ambulances and security vans were seen conveying corpses to a teaching
hospital from the attacked areas.
Immediately after news of the attack
spread, heavy security presence was noticed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport in Abuja.
The PUNCH however gathered
that Jonathan summoned the NSO, the CDS, the Chief of Air Staff, Air
Vice-Marshal Alex Badeh ; and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubike
Ihejirika, to give him detailed information on the incident and
how to restrategise to curtail Boko Haram’s activities.
No statement was issued after the
closed-door meeting that took place just as the Borno State Government
imposed a 24-hour curfew on the city.
Badeh under whose territory the attack
occurred told State House correspondents in Abuja that only the CDS
could talk on behalf of all the service chiefs.
When approached , Ibrahim simply said, “It (the situation) is being managed” as he briskly walked into his car.
No comments:
Post a Comment