Yesterday’s incident was the first time armed men would launch such attack on a church in Maiduguri metropolis in broad day, especially during Sunday service since the Boko Haram insurgence heightened in the area.
A member of the church who did not want his name in print said the gunmen numbering about five came to the church area located at Bulunkutu ward in the metropolis in a tricycle at about 11am and opened fire directly into the church.
He wondered why the gunmen would dare the security men around the church to launch such attack. “The service started on fine and we were just listening to sermon from the pastor when we started hearing gunshots.
They were firing into the church, but thank God for the soldiers. They were firing back too and after about 30 minutes, we didn’t hear any gunshot again. But I must confess, we were terrified. We just lay down there in the church and everybody was praying. For me, it was like the end has come and I started saying my last prayers. I thought about my five children.
But then, I kept wondering why the gunmen decided to dare the soldiers in front of the church,” an eye-witness told Daily Sun. Spokesman of the Joint Task Force (JTF), Lt Col Sagir Musa confirmed the incident, adding that the troops at the church post immediately repelled the attack. “They came firing into the church area but our men at the post rose to the occasion and fired back at them.
We successfully repelled the attack and the gunmen fled immediately though one of our men, a police personnel was hit by bullet, but he has been treated and discharged from the hospital,” he explained.
Meanwhile, five people including a traditional leader, two Islamic clerics, a policeman and a resident were at the weekend killed in separate attacks in Borno and neighbouring Yobe State by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram.
Daily Sun gathered that the traditional ruler who was the District Head of Auno, a small community along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway was killed on Friday night by suspected Boko Haram Islamists.
Sources said the gunmen drove to the residence of the district head in a volkswagen Golf car at about 9pm on Friday and opened fire to scare residents before they killed the district head. Auno is 22 kilometres west of Maiduguri, Borno State capital.
The two clerics, according to sources, were shot dead at Kandahar and T-junction areas of Potiskum town in Yobe State at about 8pm and 10pm last Friday while another resident was reportedly killed at about 9.30am last Saturday.
Unconfirmed report also indicated that a policeman was shot dead near Muna Motor Park along Maiduguri-Dikwa road on Saturday morning. Neither the police nor the JTF confirmed all the killings as at press time.
No comments:
Post a Comment