Six Dead In A Cross Fire With Gunmen And JTF.

Six persons including a Police Inspector and a former council chairman were killed yesterday in a clash between gunmen and members of the Joint Task Force, JTF, in Dikwa council area of Borno State.

This came as commercial motorcycle riders claimed to have lost over 100 of their members in Sunday’s bomb blast in Kaduna as more of the bomb victims recounted their experiences.

The gunmen in Borno, numbering about 30 were said to have carried out a bomb attack on a police station in the council area and killed a police Inspector as well as the former chairman of Dikwa Local Government Council, Alhaji Babagana Ali Karim. The gunmen also set the Unity Bank branch and Freedom Hotel on fire and also attempted to torch the council secretariat.

JTF members, however, engaged them in a shoot out and succeeded in killing three of them.

Briefing newsmen yesterday, the Borno State Police Commissioner, Mr. Bala Hassan said that the Dikwa attack was repelled by security agents as they were able to over power the attackers by killing three of them, while several others escaped into the bush with bullet wounds.

Hassan while displaying the arms and ammunition that were recovered from the gunmen noted that during the clash with the security agents, the gunmen abandoned their Hilux Pick-Up vehicle which they used in the attack. He said when the security agents searched the vehicle, they discovered that the vehicle was loaded with arms and ammunition; Police uniforms, crash helmets, metal detectors among others which were believed to have been stolen after an attack on a police station.

The Police Commissioner then appealed to the general public to cooperate with the security agencies in providing information to the command, adding that N500,000 reward will be given to any one who provides information that would assist in arresting the criminals, while N1 million will equally be given to anyone that provides information on the modus operandi of the gunmen. He said that all information given will be treated with utmost confidentiality.