Local hunters kill 80 Boko Haram members

From Umar Dankano, Yola with agency report

•  Recapture Maiha
•  Suicide bomber kills self in Niger

Angry local hunters yesterday engaged the dreaded Boko Haram in a battle in Maiha Local Government Area of Adamawa State, killing 80 of the sect’s members.

One of the hunters, who spoke with journalists in Yola, said that the local hunters were seriously angered by the capture of Mahia town on Monday by the insurgents.

Fearing the consequences of allowing the insurgents to hold sway, the local hunters in Mahia town mobilized other hunters in their neighbouring communities to team up against the Boko Haram members with a view to recapture the town.

According to the anonymous hunter, the hunters fought gallantly, killed 80 of the insurgents and recaptured Mahia local government headquarters from them.

In a fulfilled mood, the hunter lamented that the military authorities are preventing them from dislodging the insurgents and reclaiming their residents since they are not backed by law as constituted security forces and therefore cannot be trusted with the nation’s safety.

However, he appealed to the military authorities to scrutinize them and authorize them to face the Boko Haram insurgents in a battle which he believed that the hunters will win gallantly.

The hunter boosted that if left alone with the insurgents, they the hunters will wipe them out, as their hide outs are known to them and they can identify them. Adding that “if it is juju they also have it”

Meanwhile, a female suicide bomber yesterday detonated a bomb that exploded at the Federal College of Education (FCE) Kontagora, in Niger state, when students of the school were attending their lectures in the examination halls.

A student, Blessing Auta, told our reporter on telephone that the casualties included the suicide bomber and another female student, who later died from her injuries.

“At about 12:30, we heard a loud noise from our examination hall. On reaching there, we saw two female bombers with detached bodies on the ground. Some students near the scene were affected,’’ she said.

Another student said that some of the students injured in the blast have been taken to the General Hospital, Kontagora, for treatment.

The blast happened at the Federal College of Education in the town of Kontagora, Niger state, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) from the state capital, Minna.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the explosion happened just two days after nearly 50 students were killed in a suspected Boko Haram suicide bomb attack at a school in the northeastern state of Yobe.

The Niger state Public Relation Officer, Malam Ibrahim Abiodun Gambari confirmed that the suicide bomber died at the spot, while four students were injured, were been treated at Kontagora General Hospital. “We have dispatched our teams from here,” he said.

He stated that from preliminary investigation, the target of the suicide bomber was the school library but could not gain entrance and decided to detonate it before reaching the library.

Meanwhile, the governor of Niger state, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has condemned the attack, saying that it was dastardly and condemnable.

In a statement, signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Israel Ebije yesterday in Minna, the Niger State Governor confirmed that the only death recorded was that of the female attacker.

Aliyu urged people of Kontagora and indeed Niger state to remain calm as, according to him, full-scale investigation has commenced and that the blast could not be linked to any terror organization yet.

He said the state government has already doubled security in all schools in Niger state.

In a related development, the death toll in a suspected Boko Haram suicide bombing of a secondary school in Potiskum, in northeast Nigeria has risen to 58, a school official said yesterday.

“From records at our disposal, the death toll now stands at 58 while the number of those injured has soared to 117,” said the official at the school in Potiskum, Yobe state.

It could be recalled that a suicide bomber, disguised in school uniform, blew himself up as students gathered for morning assembly at the Government Comprehensive Senior Science Secondary School, Potiskum, before classes began on Monday.

Police previously gave the death toll as 47, with 79 injured and said that Boko Haram was believed to be responsible.

The attack was one of the worst against a state-run school in Boko Haram’s bloody five-year insurgency, which has seen boarding school students killed in their beds.