JTF kills 31, arrests 30 in Borno, Yobe raids

BARELY two days after Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State appealed to fleeing Damaturu residents to "stay and remain calm," the military Joint Task Force (JTF), on Sunday, clashed with suspected gunmen, while raiding the hideouts of Boko Haram sect members in Bindigari and Pawari wards of Damaturu, the state capital.
The clash, which lasted for over two hours in the affected wards of the metropolis, suspected to be hideouts of the gunmen, however, led to the killings of two suspected gunmen; while 30 others were arrested by the JTF at noon.
Speaking on the incident in Damaturu, the state police commissioner, Patrick Egbuniwe, in a telephone conversation andtext messages to newsmen, said "these gunmen, as usual, have, in early hours of today (Sunday), engaged our security operativesin shootouts in Bindigari and Pawari wards of Damaturu. The operation is going on in the affected areas, so we cannot give youthe extent of casualties right now."
Other parts of Damaturu, he added, were, however, calm and the security operatives on top of the situation.
On the raid of hideouts by JTF, the police chief said "following intelligence reports of the JTF, the two areas were raided at the dawn of Sunday, when the gunmen started firing at soldiers for about two hours. There were no casualties on the part of soldiers and police.
"But the JTF killed two of the suspects, with the arrests of 30 othermembers of the sect in Bindigari and Powari wards, which were used as their Damaturu base and operational hideouts to launch attacks and bombings in Yobe State."
Egbuniwe further disclosed that normal church services were going on without any hitch in any of the places of worship in the metropolis.
Meanwhile, THE JTF on Operation Restore Order in Borno State has said with the cooperation of Maiduguri residents and other communities, it has succeeded in raiding hideouts of suspected terrorists that live among residents of the metropolis, along with the recovery of arms and ammunition allegedly used in attacks and bombings in the state.
Field Operations Officer of the JTF, Colonel Victor Ebhaleme, stated this in Maiduguri, on Sunday, while displaying the recovered cache of arms at the JTF headquarters, adding that 20 sect members were killed in Damaturu, 11 in Maiduguri, while one soldier was killed and two others injured.
He confirmed that the 11 bodies being conveyed in a police patrol vehicle on Saturday to a hospital morgue were among the suspects killed in the raids.