24-hour curfew in Yobe as gunmen attack Police station, Military post

Fresh violence erupted in Yobe State on Thursday evening as Boko Haram suspects attacked a Mobile Police Station and a military post near the NNPC Mega Station in Damaturu with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol-bombs.

An eyewitness and top military officer at the scene of the incident said the attacks lasted about eight hours before a joint operation by the Third Division Special Operation Battalion and policemen on the Maiduguri and Gujba roads repelled the armed militants at midnight.

Spokesman of Third Division Special Operation Battalion, Capt. Eli Lazarus said yesterday in Damaturu that to prevent further attacks and killings at police and military stations and posts, the unit has imposed an immediate 24-hour curfew in the state.

However, he could not confirm the exact number of casualties in the attacks, though he disclosed that four Kalashnikov rifles, an FN rifle, a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG), an extra-barrel of General Purpose Machine Gun, several IEDs and 709 rounds of assorted ammunition were retrieved.

A Damaturu resident, Yakubu Yohana noted: 'There were sporadic gunshots and explosions throughout the state capital last night (Thursday).

'Most of us could not sleep because of the continuous exchange of gunfire between the militants and soldiers, which lasted over five hours. We could not even flee as the gunshots continued to rent the neighbourhood in Damaturu town till early hours of Friday.'

Witnesses further said the insurgents torched the official residence of the Commandant of Mopol 41, Damaturu, among other residential houses in the Mopol Barracks, before carting away some arms and ammunition from the police armoury.

Other areas destroyed, an eyewitness said, included the Police Criminal Investigative Department (CID) and the Area Command located near the Damaturu Central Roundabout.

It was learnt that some officers and men as well as wives and children of the Yobe Police Command were feared killed in the attack at the Mobile Police base, where RPG was launched into some residences.

More so, hospital sources confirmed that the insurgents went away with two ambulances and assorted drugs from the Sani Abacha General Hospital, Damaturu, during the coordinated attack.

And following the 24-hour curfew in Damaturu, he noted that none of the residents went to work or other places, as soldiers and policemen enforced the order. Capt. Lazarus also told The Guardian that the curfew was to enable 'the soldiers step up their special operations to repel and eventually rid the state of Boko Haram insurgents.'