Barely twelve days after suspected Fulani gunmen destroyed over 100 villages and killed over 30 persons in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, the insurgents again reportedly attacked Gbajimba, headquarters of the local government, killing over 35 persons.
Eyewitness said the invaders attacked the town in the early hours of Sunday, shooting and burning houses while others stayed at the outskirts gunning down those scampering for safety.
It was gathered that over 35 persons were killed and that when the natives started running for safety, the mercenaries blocked the road, shooting at women and children.
Chairman of the local government, Mr. Frank Usa Adi, told newsmen that many casualties were recorded and that seven corpses have been moved to Makurdi while others have been taken to Abinsi.
He said more corpses have been recovered from the bush, disclosing further that the number of those rushed to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, for treatment, could not be immediately ascertained.
He also expressed pessimism that many of those receiving treatment may not survive, calling on security agencies to protect the local government from complete destruction.
While describing the Sunday attack as serious, Adi said the suspected Fulani gunmen have encircled the entire area.
He particularly appealed to the state police command to deploy more policemen to the area, stressing that the area was almost abandoned shortly before the attack.
“I cannot be specific about the number of casualties because more bodies are being recovered. But in respect of those having wounds, they are so many at the teaching hospital here “, he stressed.
When Daily Newswatch visited the teaching hospital, doctors and nurses were busy attending to the patients who were all covered with blood.
Even as there was restriction of movement, it was gathered that many had been taken to the intensive care unit.
Personal physician to Governor Gabriel Suswam, Mr Marcelinus Ortese, was also seen assisting medical officers at the hospital in the treatment of those injured.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Daniel Ezeala, said policemen were still combing the area to see if the mercenaries remained in the bush after the attack.
He confirmed that there was an attack and that his men would give account of the exact thing that happened at the end of the day.
According to him, records of the number of houses burnt and the number of persons killed and injured were being taken so that correct figures would be given out to the media.
In a related development, suspected Islamic militants on Sunday, also detonated a bomb in a crowded marketplace in Bama, Borno State, killing at least 20 people, witnesses said.
Nigerian security officials said the attack bore the hallmarks of the al Qaeda-linked militant group, Boko Haram, fighting to carve an Islamic state out of North East Nigeria.
Security sources said Boko Haram has killed hundreds, possibly thousands, this year in a campaign of violence growing in intensity.
“I travelled to Bama …to buy bags of beans. Suddenly, there was a deafening bang at the middle of the market. It was in the late afternoon and commercial activities were at their peak,” said Shuaibu Abdulahi, a trader at the market, who estimated the death toll to be as high as 29.
Abba Tahir, a bus driver, offloading passengers at the market, said he counted 20 bodies.
“People were helping in evacuating the corpses after the confusion had died down. Some people who were injured were taken to the General Hospital,” Tahir said.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack. The military spokesman for Borno State did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A military crackdown since last May has failed to quell the insurgency, which after four and a half years remains the leading security threat to Africa’s top oil producing nation.
Borno State has ordered all of its schools shut before the end of term to protect children after Islamist killed dozens of pupils in an attack last month, state officials said on Friday.
Security officials said Boko Haram had shot or burnt to death at least 29 pupils in a boarding school in North East Nigeria. A journalist, who counted bodies in the morgue after the attack, put the figure at 59.
The failure of the military to protect civilians is fueling anger in the North East, although state security officials have claimed some recent successes, including killing several militants as they tried to escape from a prison in Maiduguri this month.
source: Daily Newswatch
No comments:
Post a Comment