A fierce gunfight launched against the
fundamentalist Islamist group, Boko Haram,
by Camerounian soldiers has led to the
killing of no fewer than 180 insurgents
and two gendarmes around a Nigerian
border with Cameroun.
It was gathered that during the battle
which took place on Tuesday evening, many
of the wounded insurgents were also
arrested.
About 200 rifles, 70 machine guns and
heavy military hardware were said to have
been recovered from the insurgents by the
soldiers.
A reliable military source confirmed the
development to our correspondent shortly
after the the Nigerian Army in Kano State
disclosed that it had foiled a plot to bomb
Kano during the forthcoming Sallah festival
by uncovering a bomb factory in Gezawa
Local Government Area.
It was gathered that the Camerounian
authorities directed the soldiers to launch
the attack against the Nigerian gunmen,
who had earlier on Tuesday, ambushed
and killed two gendarmes on patrol in the
border community.
Our source said the soldiers, while
pursuing the insurgents, sent a signal to
their Nigerian counterparts, to be on the
alert to avoid the escape of the fleeing
insurgents.
According to the source, the number of
those killed, the arrests and the recovered
arms indicated that many Boko Haram
members, who were forced out of Nigeria
through military operations, had already
“settled comfortably” in Cameroun.
He said, “The Camerounian troops have
been involved in a serious confrontation
with the insurgents. They have killed over
180 of them.
“Almost 200 rifles and 70 machine guns
were recovered from them by
Camerounian soldiers.
“What led to this operation was that the
insurgents killed two gendarmes on patrol
around the border with Nigeria on Tuesday.
I think this angered them to order a
comprehensive raid of the hideouts of the
insurgents.
“You can see from the casualty figure and
the level of seizures that they were already
comfortable in that part of Cameroun until
this incident.
“Ironically, the Camerounians who had
been reluctant in spite of complaints by
Nigeria at the diplomatic level are the ones
now reaching out to us to ensure that the
fleeing insurgents are not allowed to
escape. So, I can tell you that the heat is on
them.”
It was also gathered that Nigerien
soldiers in the Multinational Joint Task
Force killed an unspecified number of
Boko Haram members on some island
communities near Lake Chad on Sunday.
Investigations revealed that the Nigerien
component of the MNJTF went after the
insurgents on learning of the killing of one
of them.
Our source said the intensified military
action against the insurgents had made the
nation’s northern border rather too hot for
them.
When our correspondent contacted the
Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen
Chris Olukolade, he said, “Our
neighbouring countries, either through the
instrumentality of the Multi National Joint
Task Force or through their security
instruments, are involved in operations to
complement what we are doing against
terrorism.
“I am aware that the MNJTF and Nigerian
security agencies are combing everywhere
for any strange movement in our
territory,” Olukolade said.
Also in Abuja on Wednesday, the
Commander ‘3’ Brigade of the Nigerian
Army, Brig. Gen Illiyasu Abba, said that
operatives raided a house in Gunduwawa,
Gezawa LGA and discovered a bomb factory.
He told journalists at a press briefing in
Kano that bomb making items recovered
from the factory were meant to carry out
attacks in Kano during the Sallah and other
festivals this year.
A young man suspected to be a child of the
owner of the house rented out to the
suspected terrorists was shot dead.
Abba said, “At about 2 am on October 8, a
combined team of the JTF troops and
Department of State Services raided two
Boko Haram terrorists’ hideouts at
Gunduwawa village in the Gezawa Local
Government Area.
“The raid, which was conducted following
a lead on intelligence reports, made no
arrests as the terrorists fled the village on
the approach of the JTF troops and DSS
personnel.
“The weapons and other dangerous
materials were meant to wreak havoc on
Kano during the Eid-el-Kabir and other
festivities before the end of the year.’’
He listed Improvised Explosive Devices, ‘two
AK 58 with 193 rounds of 5.56 mm
ammunition, one AK 47 magazine with 107
rounds of 5.56 millimeter ammunition,
bows and arrows as some of the recovered
items.
Three primed cylinders of IEDs, one primed
explosive suicide back pack, 18 empty IED
cylinders, 24 detonators, a small bag of
fertiliser, IED timers cortex wires, three
remote control devices, five Motorola hand
held radios, four communicators, six alarm
clocks, two cartons of nine -volt batteries, a
scale, one external hard drive and one
heavy duty charger/battery were also
recovered from the house.
Source: the punch
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