Oh God protect us from terrorists. NATIONAL, NEWS Dressed in full military fatigue and armed with anti-aircraft guns, rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and a fleet of armoured tanks that they stole from Nigerian soldiers, the Boko Haram insurgents now stage bolder attacks and even overrun federal troops in northeast Nigeria. There are fears that the continued attacks on the military and the looting of arms by Boko Haram also threatens the fragile peace being enjoyed by residents of Maiduguri in the past three months. There are also concerns that Boko Haram’s continued attacks on towns and villages located around a 100 km radius of Maiduguri, could possibly weaken the defence around the capital city. In the past month, Boko Haram has carried out several gory attacks on both civilians and soldiers on the five major routes that lead in or out of Maiduguri, and these point of attacks are all less than 80km away from, Maiduguri. Last Tuesday, Boko Haram gunmen, in their hundreds, staged their second attack in a week on the town of Benisheik, 75 km away from Maiduguri. They left at least 140 persons either injured or dead. About a hundred homes and businesses premises were burnt and scores of vehicles, including military tanks, looted. PREMIUM TIMES visited Benisheik and interviewed some eyewitness and victims of that bloody attack. Carnage on the road A commercial cab driver, Sani Babayo, said it was another day of horror along the Kano- Maiduguri Highway. “We thought they were soldiers because their uniforms, vehicles and guns suggested so,” recalled Mr. Babayo. “But when they ordered us to come down from the vehicle and began to ask if we are residents of Maiduguri, it immediately dawned on us that we had fallen into the hands of Boko Haram. “After separating the women and girls from the group, they ordered the men to run into the bush for our lives. No sooner had we started running than they opened fire on us. I saw many of my passengers fall after being hit by flying bullets. I kept running for my dear life until I was out of their range of fire.” Mr. Babayo, who looked dishevelled with tell-tale bruises on his skin and blistered feet, was among few of the very lucky travellers who escaped the Tuesday carnage. Many did not. Most of the victims were those who had gone to make phone calls in the neighbouring Yobe State capital, Damaturu, 136 km from Maiduguri. For four months now, telecom lines have been grounded as a security strategy to combat Boko Haram. Residents of Borno State, since the restoration of phones lines in Yobe State, had had to travel over there to make calls. A young woman, Sarah Hyeladi, was returning to Maiduguri from Damaturu, where she and her elder brother, Markus, had gone to make phones calls when they encountered gunmen. Ms. Hyeladi was lucky but her elder brother was not. “When our vehicle was stopped at about 6 p.m., and we saw how those ahead were being shot at, Markus and I had to run into the bush, but suddenly some uniformed gunmen appeared from the bush and ordered us to go back,” Ms. Hyeladi recalled. “We had to comply because one man was pointing a big gun at us. As we were going towards where people were being killed, one of the gunmen dragged Markus and put a knife on his neck. Before I could beg them to spare him, my brother was writhing on the floor in a pool of his own blood.” “Many people died from bullet wounds but a lot were killed by something that looked like an electric saw; the moment they put it on a person’s neck, the head will go off,” said a middle aged woman who was spared. “They asked us to get out of the vehicle and ordered the men to start running into the bush, then they would shoot at them,” said the woman who wouldn’t say her name. “They were heartless and wicked in the way they took people’s lives. Most of them speak Hausa, some Kanuri but others who don’t look like Nigerians speak some foreign language,”she said. Fleeing soldiers A soldier in Benisheik said they could not stand the superior fire power of Boko Haram.
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 18:11:30 +0000
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