Breaking News: Boko Haram Overruns Hong Town in Adamawa

In a reprisal attack on Saturday, Boko Haram insurgents have seized  Hong town, the administrative headquarters of Hong local government area of Adamawa State.

Adamawa State University Shut As Boko Haram Overruns More Towns In North-East

To forestall an attack on students, the Adamawa State Government shut the state university in Mubi as the
insurgents overran Uba, a town five kilometres from Mubi.
Other towns taken at the weekend by Boko Haram fighters are: Michika and Bazza. Both towns, along with Uba, are in Hong Local Government Area.

But the sect suffered a major setback, with no fewer than 50 of its men killed in a military raid in Borno State. The army said yesterday that security forces raided a “hideout” of suspected Boko Haram members in Kawuri, a village about 37km from Maiduguri, the state capital, on Saturday.
The suspected fighters were planning an attack, the military said.
Heavy artillery, including anti-aircraft guns and an armoured vehicle, were seized in the raid. Three soldiers
were injured, the army said.

But the sect’s fighters seized more towns in Adamawa State, following the success they recorded in attacks on some villages on Friday when they took Gulak, the headquarters of Magadali Local Government, Kirchinga, the hometown of Acting Governor Umaru Fintiri, Duhu
and Shuwa.

Uba, a town five kilometers to Mubi was also overrun by the sect.
Some Michika residents, speaking on the telephone, said the insurgents commanded some of the youths to join them for the “work of Allah”.
Another resident said: “When the insurgents met me on the road in Michika, they said I should follow them to work for Allah. They asked me to go home and prepare to follow them to fight the cause of Allah but I decided to run and hide.”

A resident of Bazza spoke of how the sect’s fighters stormed the town, “shooting sporadically, using artillery
gun and other heavy weapons but from time to time Air Force jets were dropping bombs”.

The Adamawa State Government on Saturday confirmed that the government had lost to the insurgents many towns, including Gulak and Michika.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that Boko Haram fighters seized more towns along Nigeria’s northeastern border with Cameroon. They were adopting a new strategy of encouraging civilians to stay, witnesses told the news agency.
“They assured us that they will not attack us, but people began to run for their lives. Some of us have fled for fear that after subduing the soldiers, the insurgents will turn their [gun] barrels on us,’’ Michael Kirshinga, a resident of Gulak, said after the town was attacked.

  - The Nation

Boko Haram Kills 4 Soldiers 46 Others In Fresh Adamawa Attacks

No fewer than 50 people including four soldiers were killed on Sunday by members of the terrorist group Boko Haram in coordinated attacks across three local government areas of the state.

The attacks on Madagali, Hong and Gombi local government areas have caused serious anxiety across the length and breadth of the state. Local sources said four soldiers were killed in Garkida, Gombi LGA, during a fierce gun battle that lasted many hours between the members of the sect and soldiers while many civilians who were caught up in the crossfire were also killed.

Those feared killed by the sect in Madagali LGA where the incumbent acting governor of the state, Hon. Umaru Fintiri, hails from were many, while food items and cows were taken by the insurgents.

The hoodlums also visited mayhem on three communities in Hong LGA: they killed about 30 people.

The affected villages that came under attack of the Boko Haram include Zar, Lube and Mubeng, just as the village head of Zar community, a retired wing commander, Dauda Daniel, was abducted.

It was gathered that 20 people were similarly slaughtered at Mubeng village while the attacks lasted as many scampered into nearby bushes to avoid being killed by the marauders.

Some relatives of the head of Zar said the community leader was yet to be found after the raid and that he might have been abducted by the gunmen.

The figure of those killed in Lube was yet to be ascertained, one of the villagers who fled the community as a result of the attacks said.

An eyewitness who identified himself as Markus said most of the people in his community Lubeng were able to run to safety because they learnt of the coming of the sect members beforehand.

He added that not all were lucky to escape as children and the elderly who could not escape were trapped by the insurgents.

However, the acting governor of the state, Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, has commiserated with the families of the victims in the affected local government areas of the state.

The acting governor who spoke through his chief press secretary, Mr Solomon Kumanga, said that the government was collaborating with security agencies to bring down the activities of the outlawed group.

The spokesman of the Adamawa State police command, Haa Michael, however confirmed the attacks just as he said information about the number of casualties remained sketchy.

Leadership Newspaper