MIDNIGHT ATTACK: Boko Haram Kidnap Three Soldiers, Kill Another In Yobe

Date Posted: 29/06/2013

Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members killed a soldier and abducted three others during an attack on the soldiers on Thursday night in Potiskum, Yobe State, a military source revealed.

The source confirmed the incident in Damaturu on Friday.

The source, who sought anonymity as he is not permitted to talk to journalists, said the corpse of the deceased soldier was brought from Potiskum and deposited at a hospital morgue in Damaturu, the state capital.

“The attack was a bad one because a soldier was killed and the terrorists kidnapped three other soldiers to an unknown destination,” he said on Friday.

“Some of our search team are combing within and outside the neighborhoods of Potiskum for the missing soldiers. A helicopter gun ship had been deployed from Maiduguri to join in the search team this morning,” he added.

The soldier also revealed that three soldiers were killed and two seriously injured two weeks back during an attack that also led to the killing of secondary school students by suspected Boko Haram members in Damaturu. The gunmen had killed seven secondary school students and two teachers when they attacked Government Secondary School, Damaturu. The gunmen also attacked a military check-point. The Joint Task Force in Yobe had claimed that no soldier was killed in the attack, and only one was injured, while two of the gunmen were killed; a claim our source says is not true.

“It wasn’t true that only a soldier sustained injury in that attack. The terrorists actually invaded the room where the soldiers were sleeping at night at shot the three of them dead. Two others only sustained injury during a separate attack on the same night. Soldiers were able to kill one of the terrorists and arrested one alive,” the source said.

The spokesperson for the Defence Headquarters, Chris Olukolade, denied knowledge of the Thursday night attack and kidnap of the three soldiers.

“I have not got any of such report, normally they forward to us whatever happens in these areas and we’ve not had any of such reports,” Mr. Olukolade said.

Soldiers’ presence in Yobe, as well as Borno and Adamawa, was increased after the declaration of a State of Emergency in the three states by President Goodluck Jonathan. The military has declared major successes against the insurgents in the states with many of their training camps destroyed. The Boko Haram, however, claim they are winning the war against the Nigerian forces.