Local hunters, who have teamed up with the military to fight Boko Haram in terror-stricken North-East, have killed some 75 insurgents, who were part of those that had occupied some towns in Michika and Madagali Local Government Areas of Adamawa State.
A security source told New Telegraph yesterday in Yola that the Boko Haram members were killed as troops advanced on Michika to regain the control of the town. He said: “Yes, the local hunters are helping us and many were killed.
We are significantly advancing to recapture the towns taken by the insurgents, already we are in Michika.” It was learnt that the insurgents, who have been unleashing terror on some communities in Adamawa and Borno States, had run short of ammunition following a series of bombardments and air strikes by fighter jets.
“This situation helped us to track down some of the fleeing insurgents and after engaging them in a serious fight at different locations at least 75 of them were killed,” said a local hunter, Kaura Musa, who was part of the operation.
He added that though troops were advancing to recapture some of the towns overran by the extremists, the insurgents had been changing tactics by attacking remote villages. “As I am talking to you, they have entered Kirshinga and Kofa holding the villagers to ransom. Some villagers are now on the hill tops living in an atmosphere of despair and agony for fear of possible attacks,” he stated. A resident of Michika, Mr. Kwageh Bitrus, who spoke to reporters on phone yesterday, confirmed the incident.
“The militants have now run short of ammunition as they are running out of the town to the bush. As I am speaking to you, our youths and vigilante had ambushed and killed over 75 insurgents because they ran out of ammunition,” he said.
Also yesterday, the Emir of Mubi Alhaji Abubakar Isa Ahmadu, denied reports that he fled his kingdom for fear of being attacked by Boko Haram after the fall of the neighbouring towns of Michika and Madagali.
Spokesman of the emir, Chief John Elias, said in Yola that the emir left Mubi for Yola on Sunday for a meeting on this year’s hajj, being the state Amirul Hajj and not because of Boko Haram. Meanwhile, the Adamawa State Government has assured the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of adequate assistance to cushion their sufferings.
Secretary to the State Government, Professor Liman Tukur, who led a government team to the Damare NYSC Camp where the IDPs are living, said the government would do everything possible to ameliorate their sufferings.
The team was told that about 1,056 IDPs were in the camp while five pregnant women had been delivered of babies in the camp. The visit of the SSG came just as the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said only two military officers and three soldiers sustained serious injuries from the fierce encounter between troops and Boko Haram insurgents in Mubi.
The Director of Defence Information (DDI), Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, in a post on the DHQ’s twitter handle yesterday, added that an officer was missing in action. Olukolade denied that 23 soldiers were killed in the fierce battle.
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