Two suspected Chadian mercenaries fighting on the side of Boko Haram were reportedly killed on Thursday during an attack on soldiers guarding a secondary school in Gwoza local government area of Borno State, government officials said.
The gunmen, according to eyewitnesses, crept up to the perimeter fencing of Government Secondary School, Ville, leaving their vehicles in the bush, but were luckily spotted by some students who raised the alarm for others to flee.
Ville is a little community at the outskirts of Gwoza,near Izge village, where Boko Haram attacked recently and killed over 60 villagers and burnt several houses.
According to a local council official, Mr Amos, “the alarm raised by the students had helped other soldiers and security operatives in other parts of the rocky community to mobilize down to the school where they all engaged the Boko Haram terrorists in about an hour of shooting”.
Mr Amos said the gunmen would have succeeded in ambushing and maiming the soldiers as well as the students because “they had already divided themselves around all the flanks of the school, before they were spotted by the students”.
He said two of the attackers suspected to be Chadians, due to their light skins, were however apprehended as they were trying to flee from the superior firepower of the soldiers and policemen.
“Two of the Boko Haram members arrested appeared lanky and fair-skinned; they look more of Chadians than Nigerians. The angry mob who went out of the control of the security operatives mobbed them and set them ablaze using used vehicle tyres,” said the council official.
He added that other suspected Boko Haram terrorists that fled escaped with their vehicles heading towards the forest around Izge.
LEADERSHIP Weekend gathered that soldiers were deployed to mount a post within GSS Ville after the school had suffered a major attack by Boko Haram early last year.
A senior official at the Department of State Services, who confirmed the incident to journalists but sought not to be quoted directly, said: “We recorded an attack on the school there in Ville village, near Gwoza, but our operatives were able to effectively repel it, and two of the attackers were killed during the incident.”
Jonathan Set Up Committee To Rescue Abducted Students
As part of efforts to ensure successful rescue of the abducted female students of Government Secondary School Chibok, President Goodluck Jonathan, has approved the constitution of a Presidential Committee on the rescue efforts for the missing female students.
In a statement a signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, the Committees whose work shall be largely fact findings is to liaise with the Borno State Government and establish the circumstances leading to the School remaining open for boarding students when other schools were closed.
According to the statement, the committee is also to liaise with relevant authorities and the parents of the missing girls to establish the actual number and identities of the girls abducted, to interface with the Security Services and Borno State Government to ascertain how many of the missing girls have returned.
It also stated that the committee has been mandated to mobilise the surrounding communities and the general public on citizen support for a rescue strategy and operation. To articulate a framework for a multi-stakeholder action for the rescue of the missing girls and to advise Government on any matter incidental to the terms of reference.
The Committee which has Brig. General Ibrahim A. Sabo (Rtd.) as Chairman, while, Permanent Secretary (Special Services Office) OSGF as Secretary, has as members, Barrister Femi Falana, SAN, Hajia Hawa Ibrahim, Hajia Fatima Kwaku, two representatives of National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), two representatives of the All one whom shall be a female Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), two representatives of the National, Parents Teachers Association, two representatives of the Nigeria Police.
Others are two representatives of the State Security Service, two representatives of the Nigerian Army, two representatives of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), one Representative of the Federal Ministry of Information (who shall be the Committees’ Spokesperson) one Representative of the Federal Ministry of Justice, three Representatives of Borno State Government (two of whom, preferably, shall be women), and one Representative of the United Nations, one Representative of ECOWAS (who shall be a woman).
The Committee, according to the statement will be inaugurated at the State House, Abuja on Tuesday, 6th May, 2014 by 12 noon.
‘Abductions have been going on for months’
Chairperson, Purple Heart Foundation, Dr. Fatima Zarnagana, stated yesterday that the abduction of young girls by the Boko Haram insurgents has been going on for long in Borno State without people knowing.
Speaking during an interview with the BBC Hausa service monitored in Abuja, Dr Fatima said Nigerians only became aware of it when over 200 girls were abducted at once from Government Secondary School, Chibok.
Meanwhile, two suspected Chadian Boko Haram mercenaries were killed as soldiers foiled an attack on another school in Gwoza
Fatima said: “The abduction of girls by Boko Haram didn’t start today or with the ones taken away from Chibok. Within Maiduguri alone, we know of many houses where the Boko Haram people had entered, thrown about N1,000 on the floor and took away girls. The money meant that they had paid the bride price for the abducted girls.
“They also don’t abduct just any girl but decent girls. There was a time they came to a house within Maiduguri, some girls ran and hid under a bed; but they came to the house, peeped under the bed and told the girls that they were not the type they were looking for. There was also a time they entered a house, abducted three girls and left N3000 for them, meaning N1000 per girl as the bride price.
“They have abducted girls in Bama, they abducted girls in Konduga and they also abducted girls in Izge. They have abducted girls in most of these villages that they have visited,” she said.
Fatima added that most of the girls abducted, prior to the Chibok incident, are yet to return home, adding that the few that had returned came back pregnant, sick and traumatised.
Also, Dr Fatima said that the Boko Haram insurgents that took the girls from the secondary school in Chibok had started raping them right in front of the other girls even before getting into the Sambisa forest, according to one of the escaped girls.
She added that the rape witnessed by the girls motivated some of them to try and escape by all means.
Speaking on her foundation, she said the difficulties that most victims of Boko Haram attacks have been experiencing influenced her decision to start gathering relief materials and distributing to all victims in Borno State.
The two suspected Chadian mercenary fighting who were killed by soldiers guarding a secondary school in Gwozo were said to be fighting alongside Boko Haram insurgents, according to government officials.
The gunmen, according to eyewitnesses, crept up to the perimeter fencing of Government Secondary schools (GSS) Ville, leaving their vehicles in the bush, but were spotted by some students who raised the alarm for others to flee.
Ville is a little community at the outskirts of Gwoza, when travelling towards Izge village, where Boko Haram attacked recently and killed over 60 villagers and burnt several houses.
According to a local council official, Mr Amos, “the alarm raised by the students had helped other soldiers and security operatives in other part of the rocky community to mobilise down to the school where they all engaged the Boko Haram terrorists in about an hour of shooting”.
Amos said the gunmen would have succeeded in ambushing and maiming the soldiers as well as the students because “they had already divided themselves around all the flanks of the school, before they were spotted by the students”.
He said two of the attackers suspected to be Chadians, due to their light skins, were however apprehended as they were trying to flee from the superior firepower of the soldiers and policemen.
“Two of the arrested Boko Haram members were arrested, and the two appeared lanky and fair-skinned; they look more of Chadians than Nigerians. The angry mob who went out of the control of the security operatives mobbed them and set them ablaze using used vehicle tyres”, said the council official.
He added that other suspected Boko Haram terrorists that fled escaped with their vehicles heading towards the forest around Izge.
Leadership Weekend gathered that soldiers were deployed to mount a post within GSS Ville after the school had suffered a major attack by Boko Haram early last year.
A senior official at the Department State Services, who confirmed the incident to journalists but seek not to be quoted directly.
“We recorded an attack on the School there in Ville village near Gwoza, but our operatives were able to effectively repel it, and two of the attackers were killed during the incident”, said the DSS official.
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