Troops avert suicide bombing, sniper kills terrorist

• ‘Boko Haram recruiting youths to supply fuel’
• Nigerian Army arrests fake soldier in Ondo

A military sniper averted what would have been another disaster yesterday morning as he shot dead a suicide bomber suspected to be targeting the Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) camp in Maiduguri.

The spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Col. Sani Usman said in Abuja yesterday that troops deployed behind Bakassi IDP camp on Damboa road, sighted the suicide bomber from a distance. Before he could sneak through the troops’ inner parapet, towards the IDP camp to carry out his mission, the vigilant sentry “intercepted and killed the male suicide bomber.”

“The sniper instantly shot and killed the terrorist as he tried to force his way to the western flank of the IDP camp fence,” Usman said.

Usman said the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) vest strapped on the bomber failed to detonate. “Consequently, a combined team of military and police Explosive Ordinance Device (EOD) have been called to safely detonate the IED.”

In a related development, the Borno State Commander of Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Ibrahim Abdullahi said Boko Haram is recruiting youths to supply fuel to insurgents in the Gambouru and Ngala border areas with Cameroon.
Abdullahi disclosed this yesterday while assessing the state of security in the liberated areas of the state.

He said that the command last week intercepted a reasonable quantity of fuel sealed in cartons of groundnut oil, bound for Ngala Local Government Council border areas.
Abdullahi said since Boko Haram is running out of food and other supplies, they have employed all sorts of means to replenish insurgents’ stocks.

“The suspect confessed that each of the five litres of fuel is sold at N15, 000 to the insurgents.”

In Ondo State, a military impostor, identified as Mike Ajulo has been arrested by men of the 32 Artillery Brigade of the Nigerian Army (NA), Akure, for parading himself as an army officer to unsuspecting members of the public.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the brigade, Captain Ojo Adelegan, said the suspect, who claimed to be a soldier, had been involved in criminal activities across the state before nemesis caught up with him.

According to Adelegan, the suspect from Imoru in Ose Local Government Council was apprehended in Akure after a tip-off about his involvement in land matters.

He said the 48-year-old suspect would be handed over to the state police command for prosecution after the brigade must have concluded its investigations into the matter.