B'Haram attacks military, police bases in Borno

Thirty-five people, including two soldiers and
a policeman, have been killed in two
separate gunfights between security forces
and members of the militant Islamist sect,
Boko Haram, in Borno State.
The killings took place on Sunday when the
sect members launched attacks on a riot
police base in Bama, a town close to the
Cameroun border, and the Multi-National
Joint Task Force base in Malam Fatori.
A third incident in Gwoza, another Borno
State community, was said to have resulted
in the death of unspecified number of
Boko Haram commanders.
They all took place just as the prosecutor of
the International Criminal Court said that
after a preliminary investigation, she was
convinced that acts attributed to Boko
Haram amounted to crimes against
humanity.
Members of the violent sect had launched a
similar attack in Bama on May 7 this year,
killing 55 persons, including 22 policemen
and 14 prison officials.
In the Sunday attacks, a policeman and 17
members of the sect, were killed and two
soldiers injured. Two other soldiers and 15
insurgents also died in the Malam Fatori
onslaught.
The spokesperson for the MNJTF , Lt.Col.
Sagir Musa, confirmed the Bama and
Malam Fatori attacks, in a statement on
Monday.
He said, "During the incident in Bama, Bama
Local Government Area, troops recovered
four Toyota Hilux vans, 10 AK-47 rifles and
magazines, two G3 rifles and 10×4 40mm
bombs.
"Other weapons recovered from the
terrorists were three RPG tubes, 85 rounds
of special ammunition, three motorcycles,
among others.''
He said another group of suspected Boko
Haram terrorists launched an attack on
Malam Fatori.
"Similarly at about 10 am on the same day
(Sunday), some Boko Haram terrorists armed
with sophisticated weapons attacked a MJTF
location at Malam Fatori in Abadam LGA. The
attack led to the death of two soldiers and
15 Boko Haram terrorists but the situation
in both places has returned to normal,"
Musa disclosed.
Meanwhile, the special forces are said to
have intensified action against Boko Haram
members in Gwoza hills.
It was learnt that a majority of the soldiers
that returned from the United Nations
Peacekeeping Operations were deployed in
Borno State last week to intensify the fight
in Gwoza.
A highly placed security source said on
Monday that the special forces and the
Boko Haram members engaged themselves
at the Gwoza area of the state for the greater
part of Sunday.
The source said that several people, including
commanders of the sect whose identities
were not disclosed, were among the dead.
He added that while there was still a heavy
security presence in the area, it was
believed that the area had been swept by
the special forces.
The source said, "There was an attack by the
special forces on some people who were
trying to flee the Gwoza area believed to be
harbouring some top commanders of Boko
Haram.
"The corpses have yet to be indentified but
they are believed to be leaders of the sect."
When one of our correspondents contacted
the Director of Defence Information, Brig.-
Gen. Chris Olukolade, he admitted that there
was an ongoing military operation at the
Gwoza area of the state.
Olukolade said that the Special Forces were
carrying out a holistic mopping-up operation
in the mountains of Gwoza.
"All I can tell you is that there is a
mopping-up operation going on at Gwoza,
and the operation is expected to be thorough
too," he added.