By Danlami Nmodu
Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters has announced that troops have repelled an attack on Gombe by Boko Haram terrorists.
DHQ made this announcement on its tweeter handle on Saturday afternoon. The tweet simply said “Terrorists attack on #Gombe has been repelled. Troops are in pursuit.”
There was anxiety among residents of Gombe who alerted their releatives and friends outside the state about the influx of Boko Haram fighters into Gombe Saturday morning.The social media was used to call for help and prayers by many .
But accounts of the day’s incident differed.Some said Boko Haram fighters invaded the town and the foot soldiers shared leaflets containing specific messages in some parts of the town.A copy of the flyers written in Hausa language allegedly shared by Boko Haram was circulated today on the social media ,Newsdiaryonline can report.
Other reports said the town was in deed under heavy attack by the insurgents .Reuters reported that Boko Haram militants who invaded Gombe were heavily armed and “explosions and gunfire could be heard after the fighters overwhelmed a checkpoint at the edge of the city, which has been bombed before but has never had the insurgents attempt to take it over.”
It also reported a witness, Abdul Hassan who said “soldiers had run away after the checkpoint was overwhelmed. The militants then burned down a police station on the outskirts of town”
“I crossed a river and ran into the hills….I’m still there and I can hear the fighting”, Hassan reportedly said.
Another account said as the terrorists invaded Gombe, Nigerian troops engaged them with heavy military bombardments.
The military has pledged to give further details of the day’s encounter later.
However, security sources told PRNigeria that the terrorists are desperately seeking other places to set up camps as they are being pursued from their existing camps in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
In the last few weeks, Boko Haram camps in the northern parts of the states close to the boarders with neighbouring countries have been under intense pressures from Nigerian troops in cooperation with troops from the Multinational Joint task Force (MNJTF).
Some of the camps have been destroyed. And as they could no longer enter Cameroon and Niger so easily, they are moving southwards, the sources confirmed.
Eye witnesses said the militants attacked soldiers at the security checkpoints at the edge of the town and forced their way into the quarter guard of the 301 Artillery Regiment.
The quarter guard was burned but they could not proceed into the main barracks which is a little far off.
The terrorists were said to have first invaded Dadin Kowa, a town, 40 kilometres away from Gombe but as they approached the state capital, they were engaged from the air and a combination of troops and mobile policemen.
Updated with reports by PRNigeria
