UPDATED: 100 killed as troops foil B’Haram attack on Maiduguri

Maiduguri, Borno state capital, on Sunday came under severe attack from suspected Boko Haram militants.

But Nigerian troops successfully repelled the insurgents, resulting to the death of about 100 militants.

A message from the Nigerian defence headquarters on its Twitter handle @DefenceInfoNG read: “Attack on Maiduguri successfully repelled. Many terrorists were killed as we inflicted heavy casualties on them.

“Armoured vehicles, artillery guns and many vehicles captured from terrorists in disarray as military pursued them in Borno and Adamawa.‎”

Witnesses had said earlier that the terror group launched attacks from different entry points of the northeastern city, and that Nigerian troops were trying to repel them from the city.

Exactly a week ago, Boko Haram attacked Maiduguri, one day after the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan for a presidential campaign rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

It also attacked Konduga and Monguno.

Nigerian troops had successfully warded them off from Maiduguri and Konduga, but the sect reportedly captured Monguno.

Kashim Shettima, the governor of Borno state, commended the residents for the support rendered to the troops during the operation.

“I received with gratitude, information on how youths from different parts of Borno state, comprising those under the Borno Youths Empowerment Scheme otherwise called ‘Civilian JTF’, vigilantes and other residents of Maiduguri, came out of their homes, abandoned their families and with very uncommon courage, sacrificed their lives and moved to front lines to support our gallant armed forces in a patriotic battle to defend the soul of Borno state and its people from being seized by determined insurgents,” he said in a statement issued by Isa Umar, his media aide.

“I have never been as proud of our youths in Borno state as much as I am today. The youths have since 2013 rose in firm defence of the good people of Borno state, and today, they have once again proved to all of us that they have, by playing complementary roles, taken our collective destiny in their hands and we are full of gratitude to them for their sacrifices that cannot be sufficiently rewarded, no matter what government does for them by way of compensation or encouragement.

“I am confident that as a people, we can overcome the threat of insurgents whose desire is to send us, our families and communities into extinction.”