Boko Haram has killed 24 persons in fresh multiple attacks in Borno State, an eyewitnesses disclose this over the weekend.
Just as the military vowed to intensify security for the Christmas period, the insurgents took the people by surprise in Baga and Sabon Gari in Damboa district.
Seven fishermen were ambushed and killed in the first attack in Baga fishing community, while 17 people died in a separate attack same weekend, when gunmen in pick-up trucks torched more than 100 shops and vehicles in the Sabon Gari area of the Damboa district, 90 kilometres from the capital of Borno State, Maiduguri.
There was, however, no immediate confirmation of either attack from the military or local authorities.
Another eye witness, Sheriff Bababa, said “It was a reprisal by Boko Haram because the soldiers had two weeks ago clamped down on them.”
The Sabon Gari Main Market was also reportedly burnt down and property worth millions of naira destroyed. A report claims that the villagers killed two of the attackers with the assistance of some vigilante groups, while three others who fled to Damboa town were arrested.
A resident who did not want his name mentioned said that the terrorists invaded the community at 11.35 p.m. using several motorcycles and Hilux Toyota vehicles, and fired gunshots on fleeing residents, setting houses, shops and vehicles ablaze.
Meanwhile, the Joint Task Force, JTF, in the Niger Delta, said yesterday in Yenagoa that it had shut down 134 illegal crude refineries and seized two barges used by oil thieves.
In a statement by JTF’s media coordinator, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, the task force said the operation was carried out between Nov. 22 and Nov. 30 in Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta.
The JTF, which stated that it remained resolute and committed to reducing oil theft in the region, said a suspected oil thief arrested during the crackdown was being interrogated.
“In Bayelsa, we have uncovered and cracked down on 134 illegal crude oil distillation camps, 34 Cotonou boats and 36 pumping machines.
“We have also recovered 12 illegal oil dumps used by oil thieves in Igbematoru, Oyeregbene, Lasukugbere, Mbikiba and Ewesusho communities in Southern Ijaw, Brass and Nembe local government areas, LGAs, of Bayelsa.
“Some of the camps were being regenerated by the oil thieves before the crackdown.
“A locally-fabricated steel barge containing products suspected to be illegally-distilled Automated Gas Oil, AGO, was also intercepted by the patrol team around Nembe 2 flow station,” Nwachukwu said.
He said the barge had been towed to Nembe 1 flow station for safe custody.
The statement also said a wooden barge and two wooden boats conveying unascertained quantity of adulterated AGO were seized during patrols in Alakri-Okirika waterways in the Okirika LGA of Rivers. NAN