Governor’s aide killed as Boko Haram attacks military base

HASSAN JIRGI DAMATURU

Marauding Boko Haram members attacked a military base in Yobe State, killed the state governor’s aide and set a medical facility on fire.

The insurgents attacked a military base in Kukareta village Damaturu Local Government Area of Yobe State, killing Inspector Ahmed Abba, an orderly to Zakari Deba, the Aide-De-Camp of Yobe State Governor and civilians.
They also burnt a clinic built for the usage of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The Orderly was killed when the convoy he was with ran into the insurgents.
It was further gathered that no soldier was around when the insurgents swooped on the villagers and passengers, who were on convoy.
Those in the convoy said that while some few drivers swiftly reversed and sped away, others jumped out of their and abandoned their vehicles and ran into bushes.
The Orderly, who was wearing his Police uniform, was sighted by the insurgents and immediately gunned down.
A villager, Abba Yusuf, who fled into a bush in the heat of the mayhem, said: “The insurgents came late evening Monday and went straight to a military formation located in the village. A few minutes later, we heard gunshots. Right from our hiding place, we saw thick smoke billowing from the direction of our village.”
Yusuf further narrated: “The insurgents also set the village’s clinic and military vehicles on fire. The attack forced many locals to run and hide in nearby bushes. As I’m talking to you now, many civilians and soldiers are still hiding in nearby bushes. Nobody had dared to return to their homes.”
Kukareta village, which is 25 kilometers away from Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, has suffered series of attacks at the peak of Boko Haram insurgency. As of the time of filing this report, there is no official statement from the military authority to confirm the attack.
People, who spoke with our correspondent after the attack, said that although government insists that the Boko Haram group was near defeat, but the recent killings of scores of soldiers and civilians showed that claim was not true.
Soldiers, who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said that they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

They, however, disclosed that government troops arrived at Kukareta, but couldn’t over-power the better-armed militants.
Confirming the attack, the Yobe State Commissioner of Police, Sunmonu Adeyami Abdulmalik, said that Kukareta village, located in Damaturu Local Government Area of Yobe State was attacked.