Despite emergency rule in three Northern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, suspected members of the Islamic sect, believed to have escaped from one of the detention camps, have again launched an attack in Maiduguri, killing four people, including a medical student.
According to an eyewitness who did not want his name in print, the incident happened around Pompomari area of the state capital. A trader, Mallam Bitrus Koji; his son, and an almajiri boy working for him were killed in their shop by suspected Boko Haram sect members.
“The gunmen, who came in a Volkswagen Golf car, called the almajiri boy to bring water for them. When he the boy went in, one of the Malam Bitrus’s sons came out and the gunmen asked after his father. When the boy told them that his father was not around, they pushed him into the shop where they met his father seated. They opened fire on him, and then they turned to his son and the almajiri boy and killed them too. They killed the three in the shop,” the source told Saturday Tribune.
Also, along the Baga Road area, some gunmen were said to have pursued a medical student.
They caught up with him, shot and killed him. They then dumped his body by the road side and went away with his car.
An eyewitness, Mr. Auta Haliru, recounted how they saw a police vehicle conveying the corpses into the Ibrahim Taiwo Police Station; and how they left the police station again and headed back with the corpses towards Chesscon area of the capital.
“When we asked some of our friends whom we saw with the police, they told us that the sound of gunshots we heard earlier came from the attack on Bitrus shop.
They told us that the gunmen killed Bitrus, who owned a big shop at the junction around Chesscon area. We were shocked because we all thought this problem was ending, but this (attack) again is sending a bad signal,” Auta told Saturday Tribune.
When Saturday Tribune attempted to get a reaction from the police, neither the Public Relations Officer of the state command, DSP Gideon Jibril, nor the Commissioner of Police, Yuguda Abdullahi, was available for comments. They could not also be reached on their phone as there were no telephone services in Maiduguri at the time filing this report.
Source: Tribune
