Nigerian security
forces, and members of a local vigilante commonly called Civilian JTF,
killed at least 207 Boko Haram militants who launched a daring attack on
a military barracks and other government installations in Borno state.
Members of the
civilian-JTF said they counted at least 207 corpses of suspected Boko
Haram members killed after about five hours of what could be described
as the deadliest attack by the extremist Boko Haram sect on Maiduguri.
Reports quoted a leader
of the vigilante identified as Abdullahi as saying that his members
counted more than 200 bodies of suspected insurgents in one area where
the fighting took place, and said there would be more bodies in the
bush.
The group said the
figure comprised of the attacking members of the Boko Haram and the
other members freed from the military cells within Giwa barracks.
Residents had earlier
described as encouraging the sight of youth in their thousands storming
the neighbourhoods of the attacks with clubs, spears, bows and arrows,
and machete, searching for Boko Haram members.
Another member of the
civilian-JTF, Isa Maikati, was also quoted as saying that his group
arrested many of the attackers and handed them to soldiers. Those who
tried to fight back, were lynched, he said.
Unconfirmed reports said
casualty on the side of the military was minimal as a source told
sunnewsonline.com that at least five soldiers, among them a woman, were
killed in the attack.
The attack, the first of
its kind in that part of Maiduguri city since the beginning of the Boko
Haram insurgency in 2009, started at about 7:30 am and continued until
about 12 noon.
Hundreds of insurgents,
dressed in military fatigues, struck at the barracks, the university and
other neighbourhoods of the city.
The military said its forces successfully repelled the onslaught which was targeted at freeing detained Boko Haram members.
Witnesses told
sunnewsonline.com that a Nigerian Air Force jet hovered around the city
for hour, dropping bombs at targeted areas and killing many of the
insurgents.
There were reports of
civilian deaths, although the reports were not confirmed. One resident
of Fauri, Babaji Adamu, said the aerial bombing destroyed many houses
and killed a girl who was hiding with the parents in a house.
Witnesses said one
student of the University of Maiduguri was killed, while three others
were seriously injured as stray rocket bullets landed in in the densely
populated areas of the campus.
The Director of Information for the school, Ahmed Muhammed, said there was no attack or explosion on the campus.
“What people heard or saw were bullets from the area of the attack that fell into our campus,” he said in a telephone interview.
The attack came days
after the defence headquarters said Nigeria’s newly-appointed Chief of
Army Staff, Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah, had relocated temporary
from Abuja to Maiduguri to help oversee the government’s response to
attacks by the deadly sect.
It was not clear whether
Minimah was in the town when it came under attack. There were no report
of his visiting any of the affected areas, or meeting with the media.
Calm returned to the
city by evening, as members of the Civilian-JTF took to the streets
singing victory songs and chanting anti- Boko Haram slogans
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