Monday’s devastating attack on military facilities in troubled Borno State in North-East Nigeria was coordinated and led by two women commanders of Boko Haram, according to a report from Maiduguri, the state capital.
Several people, including the terrorists and security agents, died in the early morning operation while the Nigerian Air Force Base offices, staff quarters, club house and five aircraft were completely burnt down.
During the attacks, residential buildings such as semi-detached bedroom flats and offices with staff quarters newly built by the Borno State Government at the 33 Artillery Regiment base were also completely razed by the terrorists. The area accommodates hundreds of JTF operatives and the Divisional Police Station in Gomari Airport Ward of the metropolis and 50 military vehicles.
Fighter jet intervenes
A report this morning in Vanguard had it that “but for the intervention of the jet fighter from Yola, Adamawa State capital, the casualty figures at the NAF base would have been higher.
The jet assisted in dislodging the terrorists, who fled towards Beneshiekh-Damaturu Federal Highway.”
The paper reproduced the experiences of some survivors and residents of Maiduguri, who spoke of their narrow escape from death,
Narrating his ordeal, Mallam Yakubu Gashua, who resides few metres away from the destroyed 79 Composite Group, Nigerian Air force Base, NAF, said: “I thought my days on earth were over on that day.
“My wife and I were in bed and all of a sudden, I started hearing heavy sounds of gunshots, as if it was in my compound. We immediately woke up and started reciting some protective verses in the Quran.
“The gunshots became more intense with ceaseless explosions all over the place.
“At a point I told my wife and my uncle, who came from Gashua for a visit, that our days have ended.
“I said, ‘who is going to take care of my two little children who are still writing their exams in a boarding school in Damaturu, the Yobe state capital?’ But thank Allah for sparing all of us.”
A neighbour of the two slain brothers that lived opposite the NAF main gate, which was the first port of call of the terrorists, said that the attackers, who arrived the base around 4am, called for Subhi prayers in a nearby mosque before they started chanting Allahu Akbar (God is Great).
His words: “The terrorists entered the compound and saw a Toyota Hilux loaded with bags of beans, and they asked my deceased neighbour to provide the keys of the loaded vehicle to them.
“When he said the keys were with the driver somewhere else, they immediately opened fire on him. His brother was ambushed at his patent medicine store around 7am a few metres away from the NAF main gate and was killed.”
Another resident close to the NAF base said: “When I heard a strange voice close to our mosque, I asked myself who are these people calling for Subhi prayers?
“I peeped outside just to see what was happening, and when I discovered that the voice is a strange one, I quickly went back home.
“Later, we went to the mosque and performed our prayers with my deceased neighbours who were killed after the prayers.”
Narrating how his two neighbours were killed in their house, he said: “We didn’t know that the terrorists were the ones calling for the Subhi prayers.
“We performed our pre-dawn prayers successfully and as we were about to enter our house, we started hearing the sounds of gunfire, explosives and bombs inside the NAF premises.
“The sound of the explosives was even shaking our houses, which now have cracks after the multiple explosions inside the NAF Base.
“In fact, I had to quickly hide myself with my wife and two of my little children inside an abandoned soak-away toilet in the compound for over two hours.”
Mallam Abba Usman, who resides in Mwaramti village, opposite the 33 Artillery Regiment, which was not left out of the devastating attacks, said: “The terrorists were very active and brave, as they stopped and picked dead bodies of their members.”
