Military, police hit in fresh Boko Haram attack in Yobe state
Suspected Boko Haram gunmen attacked the military and police
in the town of Buni Yadi in Yobe State, where the group massacred scores of
students earlier this year, witnesses said on Tuesday.
Multiple witnesses told AFP that the insurgents stormed the
remote town at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) on Monday, firing first on soldiers manning a
checkpoint and razing the local police station.
They then torched the home of local government leader and
several government buildings before turning their guns on an empty primary
school, said witness Kura Babagana.
"When they started attacking, people began to
flee," he said. "There were casualties on the part of the security
personnel but I don't know how many."
Scores of vehicles were also burnt during the attack, he
added, an account supported by other witnesses including Buni Ibrahim, a trader
who was in the town at the time.
Details were slow to emerge because of poor mobile phone
reception in the area, where the Islamists have destroyed much of the
telecommunication infrastructure.
Buni Yadi falls in Yobe state, one of the areas that has
been worst-affected during Boko Haram's bloody five-year uprising, which has
killed thousands.
In February, more than 40 students were shot and hacked to
death when suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed the town's Federal Government
College.
Yobe, along with the northeastern states of Borno and
Adamawa, have been an under a state of emergency for more than a year.
The latest attack came as Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff,
Alex Badeh, said the military had located more than 200 schoolgirls held
hostage by the militant Islamist group, although he warned that an armed rescue
mission could prove fatal for the hostages.
With the prospects of a military rescue uncertain, a number
of initiatives to negotiate for the girls release are ongoing.
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