Churches, homes and the police headquarters in Gaidam, a small town in Yobe State, were set ablaze in a wave of night time gun and bomb attacks by Boko Haram, the police said yesterday.
Boko Haram (Western education is sin) has claimed responsibility for dozens of shootings and attacks with improvised explosive devices.
“The Gaidam divisional police headquarters and a bank were bombed on Saturday evening by Boko Haram and fire was exchanged into the night between police and Boko Haram members,” a police spokesman was quoted by Reuters as saying.
“Four policemen were killed, 20 wounded, eight churches and 20 market stalls as well as Geidam council secretariat are completely destroyed.”
Gaidam is located less than 20km from Governor Ibrahim Gaidam’s hometown, Bukarti.
An eyewitness told our reporter that the gunmen invaded Gaidam town at about quarter to 6pm, heavily armed. They asked scared residents, especially the youths, to join them to ensure a successful Jihad on the “enemies of Islam” promising that no innocent person would be harmed during the offensive that lasted three hours.
There are conflicting facts as to the number of casualties in the attack. Two people are also believed to have been killed.
Yobe State Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Mr Peter Ogwuche said: “I am able to gather from various church members that fled the town to Damaturu, the state capital, this morning (yesterday) that about five churches were destroyed, so far”.
Another eyewitness said no policeman was seen on the street throughout the period of the attack until around 9pm when some soldiers who were deployed from Damaturu later showed up in the town at the time the sect members had left.
A young man, who pleaded for anonymity, said his mother’s home and shop located opposite the Magistrate’s Court, Geidam was among the shops burnt by the attackers. “I place a call to my mum only to hear a man answering the call and warning me never to call that line again. That signalled to me that my mum might be in trouble. I later learnt that they managed to escape and by now they should be on their way out of the town”.
Another source simply identified as Fatima, who spoke to our correspondent on the telephone, said by yesterday morning, “virtually all the Christians, especially the Igbo, were leaving the town in large numbers; some on foot. The town is upside down”.
Police Commissioner Suleimon Lawal’s phone kept ringing without response. It was learnt that the CP had accompanied the DIG ‘B’ in charge of Operation, Alhaji Audu Abubakar Karasuwa, to Gaidam to see things for himself.
The Gaidam attack is the second major onslaught of the Boko Haram in Yobe State. Three weeks ago, the sect’s members launched co-ordinated attacks that claimed well over 65 persons’ lives.
Originally posted here:
Boko Haram kills four policemen in Yobe attacks