Maiduguri Attack; Relief Committee Confirms Eight Civilians Dead

BEVERLY HILLS, CA, March 18, (THEWILL) - The Borno State Special Emergency Relief Committee  Tuesday confirmed that no fewer that eight civilians were  killed in last Friday"s  Boko Haram attack in Maiduguri, the  State capital.

Chairman of the Committee, Bulama Mali Gubio  confirmed this at  a media chat  after  distributing  relief materials to victims of the attack at Giwa Barrack of the 21 Armoured Brigade and communities at the back of the barrack including Fori, Koreri, Wadia and Gambori villages.

"From what we gathered from affected communities, eight  people died.

These are not included in the numbers of insurgents killed.

These are civilians.
Some of those wounded are still in the hospital.
" In terms of material loss, it was  colossal but the casualty was not as high as we thought judging from the over three hours of bombardment that took place," he stated.

The committee chairman  said each person (civilian and military personnel) killed in the attack was a big loss to the state and its government.

He added  that the committee was directed by the state governor to re-settle the affected communities.

"What we're doing now is to distribute food items and non food items to the victims and affected communities at least to address their immediate need.

We aren't going to put the people in camps as is often the case because most of them are not used  to such life and unwanted persons could infiltrate them.

"The state government would later rebuild their burnt houses," he said.

Meanwhile, residents of Fori, Koreri, Wadia and Gambori have accused  the insurgents of burning  down their houses and killing  membere of their families before fleeing.

The relief committee however delivered  trucks of foodstuffs, clothes, cooking utensils and N1 million to the victims for  distribution  to each of the affected communities.

The Brigade Commander of the 21 Armoured Brigade represented by the Chief of Staff, Col John Ekperene, expressed  gratitude to  the State government for the gesture, promising that the relief materials will be distributed to all the victims including civilians living  in the barracks.