Kabiru Matazu, with agency reports
27 November 2011
Damaturu — Unidentified gunmen, Saturday night, attacked Gaidam Police station, bombed a church behind Kafila primary school Gaidam, a branch of First Bank Plc and some shops around the vicinity of the attack.
The Boko haram had in 2001 launched their first ever attack in Kanamma, a village close to Gaidam.
The attack was launched between 6pm and 6:30pm and there is fear that people lost their lives in the evening attack. This has however not been confirmed.
“Actually nobody was killed but some people sustained injuries while scampering for safety from the raging buildings,” Hadiza Yunusari, another resident said.
Yobe state, Police commissioner, Suleiman Lawan has said the DIG in charge of Bauchi zone will address the press on the attack soon.
Ali Bakura, a resident behind Kafila Primary School said he heard a sound which he suspected was an explosive device being detonated around the police station, followed by sporadic gun shots at different locations around the town. “I heard a loud sound from the area of Gaidam Police station, where the only bank in the town is situated (First Bank Plc) but I can confirmed that a church close to my house, behind Kafila Primary schools was bombed.”
Other sources have also reported that a beer parlour was also attacked by the Kalashnikov wielding marauders. They also say the bank’s vault was broken into and money carted away.
Gaidam is the home town of the Yobe state Governor Ibrahim Gaidam.
“The attackers who are from all indications members of Boko Haram came in a large number and attacked the police station with explosives and gunshots and burnt it down”, another resident, Abba Kashim, said.
“They also bombed and robbed a bank nearby,” Kashim said on the phone from Geidam.
Idrissa Galda, member of a local vigilante group, said the attackers also bombed a beer parlour and burnt down adjoining shops.
The attackers kept firing indiscriminately and residents remained indoors Galda said.
Details of casualties were still unclear.
“Many people have been trapped in the attacks but it is difficult to say how many have been affected,” Galda said.
Another resident, Umar Maina, said the attackers engaged the police in a shootout.
“There were three explosions in all followed by incessant gunshots and I learnt from phone calls I made that the police station, a bank and a beer parlour were the targets of the explosions”, Maina said.
Maina said the attackers were heading for the prison.
Yobe police authorities could not be reached for comments on the attacks.
AllAfrica – All the Time