Gunmen burn police station, school, telecoms mast in Yobe

GUNMEN armed with explosives attacked a police station, a primary school and two telecommunications mast in a town in Fika, Damaturu, Yobe State, on Sunday, setting them ablaze, Joint Task Force (JTF) and residents said.
“We heard that there were some attacks in Fika by suspected Boko Haram terrorists. They attacked two telecommunications masts, a police station and a primary school,” said Lazarus Eli, JTF spokesman in Yobe State.
A resident said he had seen the bodies of two policemen being brought out of the razed police station, but Eli said he could not immediately confirm any casualties.
The state Commi-ssioner of Police, Patrick Egbuniwe, however, confirmed the killing in a telephone interview.
“Yes, some suspected Boko Haram terrorist shot and killed two police inspector and two civilians at the early hours of today,” Egbuniwe said.
The police boss added that “security have since been beefed up in and around the state. We are appealing to the general public to avail the police with useful information about the hideout of these terrorist.”
Residents said the gunmen attacked their targets with explosives before dawn at around 4.30 a.m, adding that “they threw explosives and fired gunshots at their targets, setting them ablaze, and fled after the attack.”
Another resident, a student, said he heard blasts and gunshots during early morning prayers.
But the JTF spokesman said troops had been deployed in the town to contain the violence.
A police source said the attackers looted the armoury before setting the police station ablaze.
Meanwhile, Boko Haram, on Sunday, said it was not responsible for the killing of General Mamman Shuwa in Maiduguri, at the weekend, insisting that it had no hand in it.
In a telephone conference addressed in Maiduguri by Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz, one of the sect commanders, who had been speaking on behalf of the sect in recent time, maintained that the sect was not responsible for the killing, even as he warned those putting the killing at the doorstep of the sect to desist.
He also exonerated the sect from the killing of a Maiduguri-based busi-nessman, Alhaji Moham-med Flawama, an associate of former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, saying “we don’t know anything about it.”