Yola Attacked - 25 Reported Dead Is Adamawa Boko Haram's Next Prmary Target

NewsRescue

At least 25 bodies have been counted as Boko Haram blasted a bomb once again at Jimetta bus stop Yola.

The blast occured Tuesday night at the tippers park.

This is a second time in recent weeks that Bokp Haram has bombed the bus stop.

Adamawa State has been enmeshed in a series of attacks these past few days, the most recent being the attack on traders in a popular building material market in Jimeta Monday. The attack left two dead and two others in a critical state.

Barely 24 hours before that, gun men killed three people at the entrance of the Jimeta ultra-modern market.

In addition, some armed gangs attacked and killed a First Bank manager in Damilu, opposite the Yola International Airport, and made away with his car in the wee hours of Sunday.

The attackers of the bank manager did not go unpunished as the attackers were chased and caught by security officials as they tried to, escape towards Maiduguri, Borno State. They were stopped by a detachment of military personnel stationed along Gombi-Biu road.

The Army Public Relations Officer, Victor Olukoya, and Police Public Relations Officer, Yoila Nemuel, who jointly addressed the press on Tuesday in Yola, said the information garnered from the arrested armed gangs led them to a hideout of the criminal gangs in Jambutu “where a significant breakthrough was recorded in the fight against the Boko Haram sect”. Prior to this, the security officers say, a joint effort had led to the uncovering of a bomb factory in the state.

The retaliation

In what appears a retaliation from the gunmen, suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect, some gunmen organised a simultaneous attack in Yola town and Jimeta.

Witnesses say the gunmen arrived at the popular Upper Luggere axis of Jimeta, driving a Toyota Starlet car and fired on traders in the popular building materials market, killing an Igbo trader popularly known as “Abanime” while his brother, known as Odidi, sustained serious bullet wounds. Mr. Odidi is receiving treatment at the intensive care unit of Federal Medical centre, Yola.

The attacks are believed to be a return statement by members of the dreaded Islamic sect who have continued to suffer major streaks of defeat from security forces in the state following a clampdown on its hideout and arrest of many of its members.

A witness, a commercial motorcycle rider, said he heard the escaping gunmen brag “we are still around, we haven’t left town” while fleeing the scene of the attacks.

The attacks, unexpectedly launched by the gunmen from a Toyota starlet, are in sharp contrast to the use of motor bikes which before now characterised the modes of attack from gunmen. The small Toyota car serves as the major means of commercial transportation in the state.

Security officials have assured residents in the state that operatives are hard at work to reduce acts of terrorism in the state and have, so far, raided hideouts of criminal gangs.

“Men raided the place at about 04.30hrs this morning and surrounded the place and while they were trying to gain access into the place the gunmen started firing at the soldiers; at that point our soldiers returned fire and two of the gunmen were shot dead, one of them also was shot in the leg and arrest was made in the area. However, we lost one soldier in the shootout because the shootout continued until about 8am”, Mr. Olukoya stated.

“Those people that were arrested around the area on suspicion that they might have something to do with the gunmen will be interrogated for further action by the Nigeria Police. However, we recovered two AK47 and two magazines”, he added.

The police spokesperson also announced the death of one of its men, a police corporal, in the gunfight that ensued with the gunmen after the First Bank manager was killed.