- Gunmen attack bank, police post in Borno, kill 6
From Edwin Olofu, Kano & Mustapha Isah, Maiduguri
Almost 13 weeks after the devastating attacks in Kano by the Boko Haram sect, security operatives in the city yesterday allegedly uncovered a car laden with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) abandoned along Zaria road in the state.
This is coming 24 hours after a deadly car bomb attack in Kaduna on Easter Sunday that claimed at least 40 lives.
Men of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) were reported to have acted on a tip off and impounded a bomb-laden Honda car, abandoned on the Kano-Zaria road roundabout within the state capital.
The vehicle, which was not shown to newsmen, was allegedly removed from the scene and taken to a safe place by the task force officials who used the police bomb disposal unit of Kano state Police Command to defuse the explosive devices.
Spokesman of the JTF, Lt. Ikedichi Iweha, confirmed the incident, stating that the bombs have been safely defused.
“Our men discovered a heavily wired vehicle abandoned somewhere around the Zaria road roundabout; it was confirmed to be primed with explosives. We invited the Bomb disposal men of the Kano Police, who immediately defused it” he said.
Iweha said no one was hurt, and that they were making efforts to arrest those behind the failed attack, even as it was speculated that the dangerous weapons were meant for suicide mission in the state, similar to the attack on Easter day in Kaduna, which claimed scores of lives.
Meanwhile, security is still high in the state with the military and police on regular patrol with armoured vehicles equally on duty in strategic locations.
Military helicopters drafted by the Airforce Base in Kano and the state Police Command were still mounting aerial surveillance on Kano and its environs as at late evening yesterday.
In a related development, six persons including three suspected members of the Boko Haram sect, a policeman, an ex- local government chairman as well as an unidentified civilian, were killed on Sunday night when some gunmen carried out multiple attacks in Dikwa town, headquarters of Dikwa local government area of Borno state.
Our correspondent reported that a one-time chairman of Dikwa local government, Babagana Ali Karim, a police sergeant and another person, were killed when heavily armed Boko Haram members stormed the area, attacking a police station, a branch of Unity Bank, and Freedom Hotel, also in the town.
Witnesses told newsmen that the incident took place when over 20 men, armed with AK 47 rifles, raided the town and fired several shots in the air, before heading to the various targets.
The invaders were said to have driven into the area in three Hilux vehicles in the operation which lasted for an hour.
Spokesman of the JTF in the North-east, Lt- Col. Sagir Musa, while confirming the incident to newsmen yesterday said, “yes it is true that between 0135 to 0245 hours, some suspected Boko Haram terrorists attacked and burnt down Dikwa police station, Unity Bank and Freedom Hotel”.
According to Lt-Col. Musa, the gunmen had also attempted to burn the local government secretariat without success as a team of soldiers attached to the 202 Battalion in Gamboru town and some policemen were quickly deployed to the area to battle the attackers.
The spokesman explained that during the confrontation, the security operatives killed three of the attackers, while several thers escaped with gunshot injuries.
He stated that items recovered from the suspects comprised a pump action rifle, AK 47 rifle, double barrel gun, bullet proof vest, a box filled with assorted ammunition and 19 empty magazines of AK 47 rifle, among others.
In Maiduguri, the state capital, the JTF reportedly gunned down two suspected members of Boko Haram along Baga road, yesterday afternoon, just as a BBC Hausa service report monitored yesterday said that some gunmen attacked a police officer’s family in Potiskum, killing a 6-year old girl in the process.
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