22 policemen, 14 prison officials, 19 others killed

Police, Army barracks, prison set ablaze . 109 inmates freed

. 13 terrorists, 2 soldiers among the dead

Suspected members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect yesterday unleashed mayhem on Bama, Borno State, killing 22 policemen, including two of their wives and three children, 14 prison officials, and two soldiers.

Thirteen members of the terrorist group were also killed as the gunmen attacked several government offices and security posts, including police barracks and the 202 Army Barracks in the town.

National Mirror gathered that the gunmen, numbering about 500 in 10 Hilux Toyota vehicles, had laid ambush to the town in the early hours of the day.

Places attacked by the hoodlums include the prison where about 14 warders were killed and over 109 inmates set free; Mobile Police Barracks/Base with about five policemen killed; a police barracks where three people were killed, including a woman who just got married to a police corporal a couple of weeks ago and was burnt beyond recognition as well as three children; Magistrate’s Court, Revenue Office, Primary Healthcare Centre, Local Government Secretariat and other public places were set ablaze.

The remains of the burnt wife of a police corporal who just got married, killed and burnt to ashes by terrorists yesterday.

Also set on fire were the Divisional Police Headquarters and the offices of the DPO and that of the Area Commander.

The incident which started at about 4a.m. yesterday threw the whole town into confusion, as nobody was seen on the streets when National Mirror visited. Only a few mobile policemen and some military personnel were seen on major streets in the evening.

The security men at the prison said when the gunmen struck, all the officials went into hiding in heaps of firewood at the back of the prison yard, but they were exposed by some of the freed inmates before they were all killed.

Bama is about 70 kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital, and an epicentre of Boko Haram activities which has witnessed series of killings and bombings recently. It was gathered that the gunmen first attacked the police barracks about 4a.m. where they succeeded in burning the whole building.

It was learnt that when some of the sect members who were assigned to attack the military barracks on the outskirts of the town attempted to jump the fence into the compound, they were repelled by soldiers and 10 of them were killed, while one Bakura Ibrahim was arrested.

When journalists who were guided by the JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, visited the 202 Army Barracks where they were conducted round by the Commanding Officer, Lt.- Col. A.G Laka, 10 corpses of the suspected Boko Haram members with some of them in military camouflage were paraded. Laka said that after a successful attack on the different locations in the town, the terrorists met their waterloo when they attempted to attack the military barracks.

He added that arms and ammunition were recovered from the suspects, including several four-litre jerry cans with concocted water mixed with hard drugs. The commanding officer stated that his men succeeded in killing many of the suspects, but some of them picked the corpses of their members on the streets and ran away into the bush, heading towards Abbaram before attacking Banki, a town bordering Cameroun Republic.