No fewer than five people, including a child and two soldiers have been killed in separate shootings and bomb blasts in Nigeria’s north eastern Borno and north central Kogi states, local media reported here Sunday. Suspected members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect Friday attacked a Joint Task Force (JTF) patrol vehicle and killed a nine-year-old child and two soldiers in the Gwange Ward of the Maiduguri metropolis, Borno state capital.
Bomb blasts also hit a bank and area command police headquarters in Kabba, Western District of Kogi State Saturday, leaving two police officers, an inspector and a lance corporal, dead.
The hoodlums opened fire on the police station, killing the two police victims, who were on duty, before proceeding to the local branch of a first generation bank situated within 200 metres to their initial target, the bank.
According to an eyewitness, the hoodlums, about ten in number, were initially thought to be members of the Boko Haram sect but a failed attempt to gain access to the bank’s vault pointed to armed robbery.
On getting to the police station, one of the teams reportedly disarmed the policeman on guard and headed for the armoury, where they carted away guns and ammunitions and in the process, set free detainees in the station before detonating a bomb.
Having successfully subdued the policemen, a second team, it was gathered, simultaneously threw a dynamite to gain entrance into the banking premises, shooting sporadically in the air.
“They threw several dynamites into the banking hall but they could not gain access into the vault before they left in annoyance,” the witness said.
Speaking with journalists, the state Police Commissioner, John Abasankanga, who paid an on-the-spot assessment to the station, said immediately he was alerted of the incident, he mobilized anti-riot men stationed in Okene to go with the APC tank to the scene.
On entry to Kabba, the police detachment met the bandits, who opened fire on the rescue team and deflated the tyres of the APC tank. The policemen swiftly responded to the exchange of gunfire with the bandits before they managed to escape,said Abakasanga
He said he had put his men on red alert, expressing hope that the bandit would soon be arrested.
Governor Ibrahim Idris described the incident as unacceptable, saying it was barbaric for anybody to shed innocent blood.
Idris, who spoke through his Director-General, Press Affairs, Mr. Richard Elesho, immediately directed the State Security Service to swing into action and unravel the identity of the bombers.
The Bama-Road shooting in Maiduguri occurred while the soldiers were on patrol of the Gwange ward to protect lives and property.
A sugarcane seller in the area said the incident occurred at 7.30pm Friday, when unknown gunmen, numbering about four, attacked a JTF vehicle.
“We saw two of the soldiers shot, while stray bullets pierced the vehicle of a resident and killed a child sitting beside his father, before the soldiers in their patrol vehicles arrived and started raiding part of Gwange ward for the fleeing armed sect members,” the witness relayed.