SUSPECTED INSURGENTS KILL SEVEN POLICE OFFICERS IN BORNO, BAUCHI..POLICE STATION BURNT

Men of the Police Mobile Force’s MOPOL 10 Squadron atop an Alvis Saxon APC

DAILY INDEPENDENT
FRIDAY, JULY 27TH, 2012
Bauchi

Four policemen were killed while several other people were wounded when gunmen suspected to be members of the Islamic sect, Jamatul ahlis Sunnah lid Daawa wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, attacked a police station in Gubio, headquarters of the Gubio Local Government area of Borno State on Thursday. Another set of three policemen on patrol were also killed same day by unknown gunmen along Bauchi-Gombe road.

A resident of Gubio, Usman Gubio, said the attackers also burnt down the police station and the Gubio Local Government secretariat. “Many people ran away from their houses and had to take refuge in safer places. “We have never experienced such in this local government, but I do not know if any civilian was killed; however, I saw about four corpses of police officers being carried away in a vehicle.

“Security is now beefed up around the local government and we also learnt that the police have made some arrests,” Usman Gubio said. Gubio said when the residents heard gunshots, they all rushed into their houses and locked their doors, but that later they had to vacate their houses when some of their relatives came and asked them to leave, as the area was no longer safe.

Confirming the incident to newsmen, state Police Commissioner, Bala Hassan, said, “Two people, one civilian, were killed in the attack in Gubio Local Government.” The police commissioner did not give any further clarification, as his phone went off after confirming the killings.

When newsmen contacted spokesman of the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Restore Order in Borno, Sagir Musa, a Lt. Col., he said the situation in Gubio was purely a police affair and that they(police) should be contacted over the incident. In the Bauchi-Gombe road killings, it was learnt that the gunmen who made away with three police rifles after the operation, had opened fire on the policemen who were on patrol.

Our correspondent gathered that the gunmen attacked the policemen at about 8.49 a.m. The dead were identified as two Inspectors of Police and a Corporal. It was further learnt that the policemen had just resumed duty at the spot when the gunmen opened fire on them. Two of them died on the spot, while the third later died in the hospital. The fourth policeman, it was learnt,
narrowly escaped death with his rifle and ran into the bush.

When contacted, Police Public Relations Officer of the command, Mohammed Auyo, confirmed the attack to newsmen in his office. He said that a team of policemen had combed the scene of the attack in search of the culprits, and expressed optimism that the hoodlums would be apprehended.

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