By Olayemisi Abdul
Abu Zinnira, the new spokesman of Boko Haram has said in a statement Monday that Nigerian military authority lied to the world about the alleged killing of 52 of their members on Friday.
Zinnira, had also picked holes in last week’s claims of the JTF spokesman, Lt Col Sagir Musa who said 20 Boko Haram members died when the sect attacked a barracks in Monguno village of Borno state.
He said it was his sect that killed scores of soldiers and bombed four armoured tanks during a shoot out in Maiduguri on Friday shortly after President Goodluck Jonathan departed the city.
The new spokesman spoke via a text statement written in Hausa and sent to journalists in Maiduguri.
‘This message is from the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad in respect of the purported killing of our members during a raid by the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Jajeri area of Maiduguri, last Friday.
‘The truth of the matter is that we are the ones that triumphed during the encounter because we killed many soldiers and destroyed four armoured personnel carriers (APCs).
‘What is obvious is that the JTF had only succeeded in killing innocent civilians, not our members as they claimed.
‘The JTF had made the same claim in respect of the attack we launched on their barracks in Monguno on Sunday, 3rd March, 2013. They alleged to have killed 20 of our members and destroyed four of our vehicles. This claim is far from the truth.
‘The truth is that we only lost three of our members but have succeeded in attacking and destroying their barracks including two APCs. We also carted away arms and ammunitions.
‘Seeing is believing, we challenge Nigerians to go to Monguno and see things for themselves but as far as we are concerned, the attack in Monguno favoured our movement.
Spokesman of the JTF in Borno Lt Col Sagir Musa, said 20 Boko Haram men were killed by soldiers during an attack on a barrack in remote village of Monguno in the early hours of Sunday 3rd March, 2013.
Newsdiaryonline had on Saturday reported Lt Col Musa’s statement in which he said the JTF troops killed 52 Boko Haram members during an operation that climaxed on Friday night.
