Boko Haram: Scores killed as gunmen invade Askira/Uba Council in Borno

Boko Haram terrorists on Wednesday invaded Askira, the Headquarters of Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno state killing three persons, DailyPost has learnt.

The Police Commissioner in Borno State, Mr. Lawal Tanko said it was an armed robbery attack as the gunmen only attacked a beer Palour in Askira town and carted away hundreds of thousands of naira before they shot and wounded three people, including a policeman.

However, unconfirmed report has it that the gunmen also attacked two policemen at a different locations in the town and shot them at one of the sensory organs.

Askira-Uba is in Southern part of the state, and about 200 kilometres away from Maiduguri, the state capital.

It also shares boarder with Madagali Council Area of Adamawa State, which had witnessed a deadly church attack that claimed over 30 lives.

Residents who did not want their name mentioned told DailyPost that the gunmen in their numbers came in Hilux vehicles and motorcycles, with some of them disguising in military comouflag uniforms.

They disclosed that the terrorists stormed the council at about 7 pm and opened fire on residents and other security posts, using Ak47 rifles, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol bombs.

They stated that the gunmen wrecked harvoc for over three hours, killing several innocent people, burnt shops, houses and vehicles, before they fled into the bush.

But Tanko in an interview with newsmen insisted that the incident was purely an armed robbery attack and not Boko Haram as reported by residents.

He said, “At about 7pm on Wednesday, some armed robbers riding on motorcycle with Ak47 rifles stormed a Beer palour owned by one Igbo Man, Mr. Chukwu Celestine and robbed him of about N150,000 cash.

“The gunmen also robbed another trader of about N65,000 cash before shooting three people including a policeman suspected to be among the customers relaxing at the beer palour.

“There was no arrest made as the gunmen fled before my people were deployed to the scene”, Tanko stated.

He added that normalcy had since been restored to the area as people are going about their business activities as usual, and therefore, called on the general public to continue to give timely information to security agencies on the movement of criminals around their environment.