Bloody day for Boko Haram

The military Joint Task Force (JTF) said yesterday that it killed a suspected Boko Haram Commander, Ibn Saleh Ibrahim and his foot soldiers in Maiduguri, Borno State. They were believed to have masterminded the murder of civil war hero, Gen Mamman Shuwa (rtd) recently.

Fear gripped residents of the state capital who had misunderstood the unusual movements of JTF troops and armoured tanks into some parts of the city known as the hotbed of the Boko Haram attacks for possible onslaught on their communities.

But a statement issued last night by the JTF’s spokesman, Lt-Col Sagir Musa, however, shed light on the security development in the city. “In a sustained follow-up operation this afternoon, the combined troops of the JTF Operation Restore Order, 333 Air Defence Regiment, the Department of State Security, supported by Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) with helicopters conducted a major offensive against the insurgents at Nganaram, Bulabulin and Bayan Quarters areas of the Maiduguri metropolis.

“During the offensive and in a counter-attack, a major Commander of the Boko Haram sect, commanding the North-West and North-East of Maiduguri by name, Ibn Saleh Ibrahim with some of his commanders and foot soldiers were killed,” Col Musa disclosed.

He said the security forces operating in the troubled state “confirmed the late Ibrahim was responsible for the recent assassination of the Nigerian civil war (1967-1970) hero, Gen Mamman Shuwa Musa who said several weapons were recovered, however, did not give the number of other commanders and foot soldiers killed with Ibrahim, insisting the “operation is on-going” and that further details will be given later. Gen Shuwa was shot dead on Friday, November 2 at his Gwange residence, opposite Customs area of Maiduguri about an hour before the Friday (Juma’at) prayers. One Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz, who claimed to be speaking for the Boko Haram after securing the order of their leader, Imam Shekau, however, on Sunday, November 4, denied the involvement of the sect in the killing.

“We heard that people were saying that we had a hand in the killing of Gen. Shuwa. I want the people to know that we didn’t have any problem with the man. We don’t have anything against him. He is (was) a respected person and has not offended us in any way. We have no hand in his killing.

We were even surprised when we heard about the incident,” Abdulaziz had told journalists through a telephone conference. Meanwhile, suspected Boko Haram gunmen yesterday shot dead three traders in Maiduguri. Sources said the gunmen had targeted the three traders at Bulabulin ward of Biafara area, at about 11am.

Ironically, Bulabulin was also one of the areas which the JTF listed as places where it conducted its major offensive against insurgents, leading to the killing of the Boko Haram commander and the foot soldiers.

The gunmen were said to have stormed the traders’ shops in a tricycle and disappeared into the neighbourhood after the killings. Neither the police nor the JTF confirmed the incident. “I will find out and call you back,” Col Musa told Daily Sun, but did not call even as his telephone line could not be reached as at press time.