Military jets bombard Boko Haram militants in Gombe

The Nigerian military has launched airstrikes
on suburbs of Gombe town as soldiers and
police battled Boko Haram insurgents who
attacked the town early Saturday, residents
have said.
Fighting continued Saturday noon as Air
Force jets targeted areas raided by the
militants outside Gombe city.
The terrorists had attacked Lubo and
Dadinkowa villages, some 32km from Gombe
town, before heading for capital city.
A resident, Mallam Hassan, told PREMIUM
TIMES on phone that “we’ve all rushed back
to our homes now. Our town is under attack;
we heard that Boko Haram terrorists, in their
hundreds, are trying to invade the town”.
“Everywhere is quiet now, but the sounds of
shooting and explosion is deafening. We
hear the soldiers are battling to stop them”.
Another resident said soldiers and police
confronted the sect members in Linji village,
on the outskirts of Gombe.
A resident, Ahmed Hamza, told PREMIUM
TIMES that some young men from Dadin
Kowa town earlier informed him that the sect
members were attacking their town.
“We can hear sounds of gunshots from a
distance and everybody has gone indoors
now,” he said.
Another source who declined to be named for
security reasons also said the insurgents
headed towards the Army Barracks along
Dadin Kowa road when the Nigerian Army
troop engaged them while a detachment of
mobile police officers provided back up.
The spokesperson of the Police in the state,
Fwaje Atajiri, could not be reached for
comments at time of this report.
The Boko Haram terrorist group has
repeatedly attacked the town bombing bus
stations and other locations.
Saturday’s attack is coming less than two
weeks after a suicide bomber struck in the
city shortly after President Goodluck
Jonathan campaigned.
Mr. Jonathan was in Gombe for a rally that
February 2, when a female suicide bomber
struck shortly after the campaign train departed.
The female suicide bomber and a passer-by died in the
attack, while six persons were injured, the police said at the
time.
In December, the Nigerian military said it killed 67 of the
insurgents, who, in a convoy of over 30 vehicles and
motorcycles, were on a mission to capture Ashaka, another
Gombe town, the host community of Ashaka Cement Plant.
The defence headquarters, which admitted losing 10 soldiers
in the battle, said troops got intelligence report on their
mission and laid ambush for them.