Gunmen suspected to be Boko
Haram members killed a soldier
and abducted three others
during an attack on the soldiers
on Thursday night in Potiskum,
Yobe State, a military source
revealed.
The source confirmed the
incident to Premium Times in
Damaturu on Friday.
The source, who sought
anonymity as he is not permitted
to talk to journalists, said the
corpse of the deceased soldier
was brought from Potiskum and
deposited at a hospital morgue
in Damaturu, the state capital.
“The attack was a bad one
because a soldier was killed and
the terrorists kidnapped three
other soldiers to an unknown
destination,” he said on Friday.
“Some of our search team are
combing within and outside the
neighborhoods of Potiskum for
the missing soldiers. A helicopter
gun ship had been deployed
from Maiduguri to join in the
search team this morning,” he
added.
The soldier also revealed that
three soldiers were killed and
two seriously injured two weeks
back during an attack that also
led to the killing of secondary
school students by suspected
Boko Haram members in
Damaturu. The gunmen had
killed seven secondary school
students and two teachers when
they attacked Government
Secondary School, Damaturu.
The gunmen also attacked a
military check-point. The Joint
Task Force in Yobe had claimed
that no soldier was killed in the
attack, and only one was injured,
while two of the gunmen were
killed; a claim our source says is
not true.
“It wasn’t true that only a soldier
sustained injury in that attack.
The terrorists actually invaded
the room where the soldiers
were sleeping at night at shot
the three of them dead. Two
others only sustained injury
during a separate attack on the
same night. Soldiers were able to
kill one of the terrorists and
arrested one alive,” the source
said.
The spokesperson for the
Defence Headquarters, Chris
Olukolade, denied knowledge of
the Thursday night attack and
kidnap of the three soldiers.
“I have not got any of such
report, normally they forward to
us whatever happens in these
areas and we’ve not had any of
such reports,” Mr. Olukolade
said.
Soldiers’ presence in Yobe, as
well as Borno and Adamawa,
was increased after the
declaration of a State of
Emergency in the three states by
President Goodluck Jonathan.
The military has declared major
successes against the insurgents
in the states with many of their
training camps destroyed. The
Boko Haram, however, claim
they are winning the war against
the Nigerian forces.