Barely four days after the bombings in Kano which left scores dead, gunmen struck in Adamawa State.
At the end of the attack, late Friday, no fewer than 25 persons, including a former commissioner in old Gongola State, were feared dead.
Scene of attack was the headquarters of Ganye local government.
The suspected insurgents hit Adamawa just as another suicide attack was foiled by security agents in Kano yesterday.
Only the two suicide bombers involved in the attack were, however, killed.
Gunmen also shot dead a security guard in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, yesterday, bringing the death toll from suspected terror attacks at the weekend to 28.
The other highlight of the Adamawa incident was that the gunmen, who carried out the operation, attacked a bank, a police station and a prisons facility where some inmates were said to have been freed.
Some relaxation centers and hotels, a source said, were also hit.
The bulk of those killed were said to have been shot during the attack on the relaxation centers and hotels.
Adamawa killings
Eye witnesses said the attackers first struck at the divisional police station which was set ablaze before proceeding to the prisons where the inmates were set free and the building also set on fire.The attack,
according to the eyewitnesses, which took the residents by surprise, began moments after the last Muslim prayers, Isha’i. The attackers were shouting, “Allah is Great, Allah is Great’, as they marched round the town unchallenged.At the bank, the assailants were reported to have used dynamites to pull down parts of the building before gaining entrance into the banking hall and the strong room.
At press time, there was no confirmation of the amount of money stolen from the bank but reports said the amount could run into millions of Naira. Almost all the hotels and other relaxation joints in the town were set ablaze and ransacked, even as fun seekers ran helter skelter for dear lives.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that most of the casualties were recorded in the relaxation centres as the attackers opened fire sporadically on people seen to be patronizing the drinking joints and their owners. Adamawa State Police Command confirmed the incident. The command’s public relations officer, PPRO Mohammed Ibrahim (SP), said military and police personnel had been dispatched to the area. Also, the Comptroller of Prisons in charge of Adamawa State, Mr. Andrew Barka, confirmed the ransacking of Ganye Prisons, but failed to give further details.Ganye local government council shares border with the Republic of Cameroon.
Wheel barrow bombers
In Kano, operatives of military Joint Task-Force (JTF), yesterday morning, allegedly foiled the attempt by two suicide bombers to blow up the counter terrorism personnel manning a checkpoint, leaving the bombers dead.
Security sources said the bombers had disguised as water vendors pushing through a wheel barrow loaded with high caliber Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and were approaching the checkpoint located at the Eastern bypass by the petrol mega station when they were ordered to stop. They allegedly refused.
The source stated that the military personnel, who appeared curious about the ‘water vendors,” shot and killed the two suspects instantly, while a shot fired at the wheel barrow resulted in a deafening explosion that unsettled the restive commercial city forcing residents to retreat to the comfort of their homes.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that the JTF immediately cordoned off the scene and mobilized men and heavy weaponry there.
Confirming the incident, the Kano State Police Command stated that four people were arrested within the vicinity.
The Command, in a statement by the state police commissioner, Alhaji Musa Daura, said investigations had commenced to ascertain those involved.
Death in black spot
In the Maiduguri attack, gunmen, suspected to be members of Boko Haram, attacked the Kaleri
ward residence of a businessman, Alhaji Umar Ali Adam Kolo, and shot dead his chief security officer at about 1.45pm yesterday.
Kaleri ward of the metropolis, according to (JTF) sources, is one of the eight black spot areas of Boko Haram in the Borno State capital.
The chief security officer, according to an eyewitness, was trailed to his duty post at the compound on a tricycle immediately after the afternoon mosque prayers, and shot in the head and chest. He slumped and died on the spot.
The eye witness said the suspects came through the Shehuri North areas, before riding into the Kaleri ward on a tricycle, chanting: “God is great! God is great!,” in Arabic language, before they shot and killed the security guard.
A resident said the security guard was early this year issued a threat letter to vacate his duty
post of protecting his boss.
The JTF spokesman in Borno State, Leuitenant Colonel Sagir Musa, and the police image maker, DSP Gideon Jubrin, could not be reached as their phones were all switched off at the time of going to press.
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