SAN FRANCISCO, July 29, (THEWILL) – Twenty-five persons were killed in two separate attacks by the Borno State vigilante youth group, popularly known as the Civilian JTF, on Boko Haram members in the state,weekend.
While an attack by the youths on members of the Boko Haram sect in Dawashe village in Kukawa Local Government Area of the state on Saturday resulted in the death of 20 persons, five others were killed in an ambush by the terrorists in Mainok.
The casualties from the Dawashe invasion were mostly innocent villagers who were were caught in the exchange of gunfire between the youths and the terrorists.
Others who were injured in the attack were taken to the medical team of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) which has its headquarters in nearby Baga for treatment.
A statement by the spokesman of the MNJTF, Lt. Haruna Mohammed Sani, confirming the attack, said: “As part of the Excellent Civil Military Relations and humanitarian gesture demonstrated by Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), a dozen of Boko Haram victims affected by the Saturday attack in Dawashe District of Kukawa Local Government Borno State got medical treatment in the Headquarters Field Ambulance in Baga.
“According to an eye witness who pleaded anonymity, a group of Civilian Joint Task Force from Maiduguri stormed the village of Dawashi in search of Boko Haram members when the suspected sect members came armed and fired sporadic shots that killed over 20 innocent civilians while a dozen sustained serious gunshot injuries.
“The victims are mostly fishermen and traders who pursue their legitimate business in the area . As at the time of compiling this report, the victims were still lying within the premises of MNJTF Field Ambulance receiving medical treatment from the injury sustained during the attack.”
Disclosing that heavily armed Quick Reaction Group from MNJTF had been deployed to ensure safety of lives and property in the area, he said the Dawashi, Daban Masara and Malan Karanti area had been infested with suspected Boko Haram members.
In a related developmenrt, fiive members of the vigilante group from Maiduguri who had gone to arrest two suspected Boko Haram members in Mainok on Friday were ambushed and killed on their way back on the Maiduguri-Kano road by some heavily armed Boko Haram men.
One of the youths was said to have died instantly following the attack on their convoy while the few others who were injured were rushed to an hospital in Maiduguri where four others eventually died.
Narrating the experience, Isa Inuwa, a vigilante group member who survived the ambush,said:,”We were terrified and shocked when the gunmen attacked one of our taxis conveying the two arrested suspects to Maiduguri for handover to the Joint Task Force (JTF). They came out from the bush in two Hilux vehicles; and started firing at the taxi carrying the suspects. Two minutes after, one of us was shot dead in the chest, while the others received varying injuries.
“We had to flee because of the superior firing powers of the Boko Haram gunmen; and rushed the injured youths to the Umaru Shehu Hospital, Bulunkutu for treatment.”
The chairman of the youth vigilante group, Abubakar Mallum, told journalists in Maiduguri that most of the Boko Haram suspects in the state capital had fled to neighbouring towns and villages such as Mainok.
JTF spokesman, Lt. Col Sagir Musa, while confirming the incident, said the youths were attacked while returning from their operations at Mainok .
He however said a person was killed while another sustained injuries, explaing that both the dead and the injured had been taken to the Shehu Umar Specialist Hospital in Bulunkutu.
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