Military, CJTF intensify onslaught on insurgents in Borno

• Kill more terrorists in Tungushe

BARELY 12 hours after repelling dozens of insurgents in Maiduguri metropolis of Borno State, troops of 7 Division of the Nigerian Army and vigilante youths clashed with armed Boko Haram militants at Tungushe village, killing scores of the hoodlums and destroying their vehicles, arms and ammunition by 5pm on Sunday.

  Tungushe is a farming community on the Maiduguri-Monguno road, and 35 kilometres north of Maimalari Military Cantonment.

  An eyewitness, who escaped to Maiduguri Monday morning, said the target of the insurgents was the Maimalari Barracks that accommodates over 1, 000 soldiers and other military hardware.

“I was shocked and terrified with the insurgents’ tactical and strategic attempted onslaught on military formations and posts in Maiduguri 12 hours after troops repelled over 450 insurgents at the Ngom, Gombole and Damboa road entry points.” 

On how the Nigerian soldiers killed the terrorists, he said: “The insurgents sneaked into the village at 5:00pm on Sunday and engaged the soldiers in a fierce gun battle, throwing explosives and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), but were successfully repelled by troops who killed hundreds of the hoodlums.

“A lot of bodies of insurgents killed littered the streets and bushes of the village, as the military seriously dealt with them. The military has done a good job,” Ibrahim stated.

According to him, “if the soldiers will maintain this tempo, I believe very soon the Boko Haram insurgency will end as the terrorists have been defeated in all the attacks they planned recently. Also, the Cameroonian and Chadian troops are doing a good job which is worthy of commendation.”

  A military source also Monday told The Guardian that besides the Sunday evening village repulsion, over 100 suspected terrorists were feared killed in another operation that lasted for over four hours.

  Meanwhile, the Bauchi Police Command has said that over 15, 000 lives were lost due to activities of insurgents, violent political and communal clashes, armed banditry and assassination in Nigeria between 2009 to date.

 The State Assistant Commissioner of Police, Anthony Okpara, who spoke at a just concluded stakeholders’ sensitization forum on arms proliferation in Bauchi, said a paradigm shift in the method of controlling and regulating arms proliferation will go a long way in restoring social order and enhancing electoral process in the country.

The Bauchi Assistant Police Commissioner, in a paper delivered at the event listed measures to be taken to reduce arms proliferation as ensuring good governance, disarmament, arms treaties, inter agency collaboration, and intelligence gathering. Others are respect for human right, adherence to the rule of law, effective and efficient border patrol and strict immigration policy against aliens and illegal foreigners.

  Okpara explained that the dangers posed by small arms and light weapons cannot be over-emphasized, especially now that the nation is facing so many security challenges, stressing that the small arms pose great threat to security of lives.

  He noted that most of the violence perpetrated in African countries such as Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Burundi, Somalia, Libya and Sudan are perpetrated with small arms and light weapons.

  Okpara also blamed politicians for arming youths to intimidate political opponents and disrupt political activities.