Residents flee Damaturu amid B’Haram attacks

Residents of Damaturu, capital of Yobe state, woke up on Monday to the sounds of gunshots and explosions.

A security official, who spoke to TheCable after pleading not to be named, said suspected Boko Haram insurgents attacked the town late Sunday, but maintained that the situation was under control.

“There is serious exchange of gunfire,” he said.

“Boko Haram members attacked the town yesterday night but there is a combined effort to prevent them. I hope you can hear the gunshots in the background of the phone yourself.”

A resident, who volunteered to speak on telephone ended the call abruptly, as sounds of gunshots rent the background.

The attackers charged into the city firing their guns and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).

The insurgents set fire to a mobile police station and shot at an air force jet that was circling their forces and dropping bombs, witnesses told Reuters.

A student of Yobe State University said militants riding on motorcyles and a pick-up truck bombed the main administrative building of the institution.

Marcus Danladi, the Yobe state police commissioner, said the militants had caused “serious damage to security formations in the city, including the mobile police base”.

“I saw a military jet circling three times. People have abandoned their vehicles on the road and gone home,” Damaturu resident Mustapha Usman said.

Another resident, hiding behind a gate, said he saw the insurgents drive down a road in police vehicles and an armoured vehicle trying to shoot down the plane.

“They mounted anti-aircraft guns and they are trying to shoot the aircraft that was bombarding the town. They were all turning their heads shooting,” he said.

Scores of people have been fleeing Damaturu, while some others have been reportedly trapped in their homes as a result of the exchange of gunfire.

The rate of insecurity in the state rose in the recent times, forcing government to close many schools across the sate.

On November 3, a suicide bomber detonated a bomb amidst a crowd of Shi’a Islamic movement followers in Potiskum, the largest city in the state, killing 23 people.

Exactly seven days later, another suicide bomber disguised as a student and blew self up at the assembly ground, killing 47 people and injuring 79.