11 killed in JTF, Boko Haram Yobe clashes

Joint Security Task Force

The Military Joint Task Force  in Yobe State has confirmed that 11 people were killed in separate attacks as suspected members of the Boko Haram sect invaded the Government Secondary School and a military checkpoint in Damaturu, the state capital.

The military spokesman in the state, Lieutenant Eli Lazarus, in a statement on Monday, explained that two teachers, seven students and two insurgents were killed during the attacks.

Apart from the 11 killed, three soldiers, according to the statement, were critically injured in the clash that lasted for over five hours.

The army spokesmen said three of the suspected Boko Haram members were caught alive and were currently in the custody of the JTF.

The Medical Officer of the Damaturu Specialist Hospital, Salem Umar, confirmed that 11 corpses were brought to the hospital and gave the breakdown as seven students of the GSS Damaturu, two teachers of the school and two members of the suspected Boko Haram members.

He added that six students also sustained various degrees of injuries and were currently receiving treatment at the Damaturu Specialists Hospital.

Mohammed Ya’u (SS3 student) Abdulkadir Mohammed (SS2) and Goni Abubakar (SS1), who survived the attacks, said in Damaturu that the suspected insurgents stormed their hostels few minutes after 9pm on Sunday and started shooting sporadically as the panic-striken students fled through the windows and doors of the hostel.

The insurgents, who they said were many, also compelled some of the students to direct them to the teachers’ quarters, after which they were also killed.

Sunday’s attack interrupted the months of ceasefire in Damaturu, a situation that made the state government to further reduce the curfew hours to between 9pm to 6am from 6pm to 6am daily.


-- Punch