Suspected members of the violent Islamic sect,
Boko Haram, on Tuesday stormed a roadblock
mounted by the Joint Military Task Force in Yobe
State and killed four soldiers and two policemen.
Gonori is about 50 kilometres away from Damaturu,
the state capital.
The insurgents, numbering about 20, were said to
have caught their victims unawares while they were
relaxing at about 7pm. The attackers were said to
have carried AK47 guns.
A security source who briefed our correspondents
said, "Some people suspected to be Boko Haram
members opened fire at a JTF roadblock and killed six
security operatives on duty.
"Those who died include four soldiers and two
policemen; some other soldiers who sustained gunshot
wounds have been moved to the hospital.
"The suspected Boko Haram members might have
been monitoring the roadblock and opened fire when
they noticed that the soldiers were more relaxed; the
attack took place in the evening."
A top security personnel at the Defence Headquarters
on Wednesday confirmed the incident on the condition
of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak
to the media.
The source said members of the Special Forces were
still engaged in a gunfight in Yobe over the incident till
late on Wednesday.
The Special Forces is an amalgam of security
operatives raised to confront insurgents in the
troubled North-East when the Federal Government
declared a state of emergency in Yobo, Borno and
Adamawa states a few months ago.
Security operatives on the trail of insurgents believed
to be in possession of dynamites in Potiskum had shut
down the town for a house-to-house search operation
on Tuesday.
There was also the fear in security circles that the
insurgents could use the explosives hijacked last week
from Rick Rock Quarry, operated by a Pakistani in the
Gulani Local Government Area of the state, to wreak
havoc during the Eid-el-Fitr celebrations.
Spokesman for the JTF, Captain Eli Lazarus, reportedly
said that the JTF decided to impose a 24-hour curfew
on Potiskum in response to an intelligence report that
the insurgents were planning attacks in the city with
effect from Monday.
A source who confided in our correspondents on
Wednesday said that the JTF had temporarily shut
down the MTN communication in Yobe State in order
to confront the development though the
communication facilities had since been restored in
the evening of Tuesday.
Efforts to get the Director of Defence Information,
Brig. Chris Olukolade, to comment on the Yobe attack
did not succeed as repeated calls to his mobile phone
were not answered.
Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan on
Wednesday admitted that members of Boko Haram
took his government by surprise with their terror
tactics.
Jonathan who spoke at the breaking of Ramadan fast
with Muslim members of the Diplomatic Corps in the
Presidential Villa, Abuja, regretted that the attacks
being unleashed on Nigerians by the sect members
had led to the killing of children, security agents and
many other innocent persons.
He said, "In Nigeria, the security challenge we face is
all too well-known. The activities of the Boko Haram
sect, especially their tactics of terror, took us all by
surprise.
"The mindless attacks of this group have led to the
loss of innocent lives of children, law enforcement
agents and other innocent citizens.
"However, it is significant to note that with
commitment and fervent prayers to God by all who
profess their faith in the supreme creator, we have
achieved significant success in containing the menace
of the sect."
The President expressed the hope that the Ramadan
season had imbued the peoples of the world with
compassion and forgiveness to enable them to
surmount the challenges of global conflicts and wars.
He urged the Muslim diplomats to always pray for
Allah to intervene and help address the various
challenges confronting all nations, especially nations
facing civil strife, political instability and financial cris
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