Boko Haram Kills 29 In Fresh Borno Attacks

BEVERLY HILLS, CA, May 02, (THEWILL) â€' About 17 days after Boko Haram gunmen struck at the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, abducting over 200 students, the insurgents struck again in the state on Thursday night, killing no fewer than 29 persons in two separate attacks.

Local sources said the Boko Haram terrorists lost 19 of their members to the attacks which also claimed the lives of 10 innocent residents. The first attack was said to have occurred in Beneisheikh, a town along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway, where the insurgents reportedly barricaded the expressway and attacked travelers along the road. The attack was said to have claimed the lives of 10 persons as motorists and other travellers had to flee the road in the face of sporadic gunshots from the terrorists..

According to a military source , 'the incident happened when over 30 gunmen, armed with sophisticated weapons emerged from their hide-out inside Sambisa forest blocked the highway and forced the motorists to stop.

He disclosed that though 10 lives were said to have been lost, the casualties figure may be more .

'The terrorists bullets might have killed several passengers as they shot at some vehicles when the drivers refused to stop and ran over the roadblock,' he said.

This came as another source said: 'Immediately when the terrorists rushed to the ill-fated vehicles, they opened fire on the occupants before using knives to slaughter 10 of them.'

'Some motorists upon sighting the danger, hurriedly reversed and quickly drove towards Maiduguri, while others escaped towards Damaturu.'

The security source however said: 'The security forces responded swiftly and mobilised to the scene and succeeded in killing some of the terrorists in a gun-duel with others fleeing into the bush.'

In the second attack which occurred at in Gwoza and lasted for about three hours, 19 Boko Haram gunmen were said to have been killed in a gun duel with soldiers.

The Boko Haram gunmen were said to have stormed a security checkpoint mounted by the military, resulting in a fierce shoot-out.

A resident of the area who craved anonymity said the attackers came from the Gwoza hills, took the soldiers unawares and initially had an upper hand before the soldiers responded with disciplined attack.

The terrorists were said to have thrown several Improvised Explosive Devices, (IEDs) into the direction of the military, before opening fire.

'But the insurgents suffered serious casualties as 19 of them were killed in the encounter with combined team of military and policemen attached to the Counter Terrorism Squad (CTS), who quickly mobilised to the scene of the attack,' the local source said.

He said he was not sure of the number casualty recorded from the side of security personnel since they were not allowed access to the scene till the following day when soldiers displayed corpses of the insurgents killed in the incident .

He disclosed that the slain insurgents looked like teenagers, saying ' by mere looking at all the slain terrorists, you will know that they were between the ages of 15 and 17.'