17 killed in B’Haram, Vigilance group clash
No fewer than 17 people were killed and 17 others
injured when suspected Boko Haram sect members attacked some members of the
civilian vigilance group in Benisheik village, near Maiduguri, the Borno State
capital, on Saturday night.
The attack came barely 48 hours after the Nigeria
military raided an Islamic insurgent camp and killed about 50 sect members in
the North.
While the 12 vigilance group members were killed,
five Boko Haram members lost their lives and four AK-47 rifles were also
retrieved in the clash.
According to an operative of the Civilian Joint
Task Force Vigilance Group, Zannah Fannami, the vigilance members were killed
while repelling Boko Haram’s attack on the town.
The 27-year-old operative, with the Civilian
Joint Task Force vigilante group, who is receiving treatment at the University
of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital for a bullet to his right thigh said, “We heard
that they would be coming since Friday and had been keeping vigil all
nights.
“Late Saturday night, when we least expected it,
we heard a thunderous sound like that of a bomb coming from the direction of a
soldiers’ post, then we decided to advance toward the sound and the Boko Haram
gunmen, carrying sophisticated arms, opened fire on us, killing 12 of our
members.”
The survivor explained that the vigilance group,
which was formed to fight the Boko Haram insurgents, killed five of the sect
members and took possession of four of that AK-47 rifles.
Another injured Civilian-JTF operative,
32-year-old Muhammed Abuwar, blamed the military for the attack, saying the
soldiers refused to shield them from the “expected” attack.
Borno State Government labour adviser, Garba
Ngamdu, who also hails from Benisheik, said one of vigilance members had died in
the hospital as doctors tried to remove bullets from his body.
He also confirmed the death of the five Boko
Haram members at the hands of vigilance members with machetes and said their
corpses were on the outskirts of the town
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