Dozens Of Insurgents Killed As Troops Repel Fresh Maiduguri Attack

According to Leadership news paper, at least 500 persons, mostly Boko Haram militants, were yesterday confirmed dead at the outskirts of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, when the insurgents attempted to attack Maiduguri one week after they were repelled by Nigerian troops, security sources and witnesses have said.

More than 1,000 Boko Haram gunmen, among them many Chadian mercenaries, staged what many military officers described as the most daring attempt to overrun the largest capital city in northeast Nigeria.

The insurgents, who arrived at the gates of Maiduguri at about 5am in the morning, planned to attack the state capital from the four flanks of the city in what would have ended as the bloodiest attack ever carried out by the Boko Haram.

Last week, fleeing displaced persons from Monguno narrated how the insurgents, who had attacked their communities and forced many of them to relocate to the capital city, had told them that they had a plan to turn Maiduguri into a bloody grave yard once they take the city.

Security sources said the insurgents, who were armed with all kinds of munitions, including field artillery weapons and rocket propelled launchers and grenades, made it to the gates of Maiduguri but met stiff resistance from Nigerian soldiers and Civillian JTF operatives.

A top security officer told LEADERSHIP off the records that “they attempted to enter Maiduguri via Ngom, Dalwa, Mulai Njimtilo, but were met with a superior counter-offensive by our troops.”

“The terrorists sustained their determination to take Maiduguri by all means as soldiers continued to shell, bombard and gun them down for well over five hours.

“The insurgents came attacking with unusually long range artillery guns which they fired indiscriminately into the city which resulted in killing many innocent civilians.”

In a suburb of Maiduguri known as Abujantalakawa, situated on the way to Damboa, the rocket propelled grenade (RPG) fired by the insurgents killed an aged man and his granddaughter as they sat outside their home.

The grenade which landed near a public Islamic school also seriously injured one of the pupils who had run to the old man for protection upon hearing the noise of battle.

Meanwhile, a senior security officer in Maiduguri told journalists that over 500 members of the Boko Haram died in the battle.

“The hoodlums were so daring in their attempt to take over Maiduguri but our men seriously put up stiff resistance and left the hoodlums with a bitter experience today. Over 500 of them were wasted out there. We have recovered several weapons and arms which they abandoned while fleeing,” he said.

Another source reported that a Nigerian air force jet dropped some bombs at the advancing Boko Haram fighters near a hospital about three kilometres away from Giwa barracks, killing many of them and injuring some civilians as well.

In an area called Zannari, an air force jet was said to have dropped bombs on a house where sachet water was being produced, killing seven persons there.