Gunmen kill 4, rob bank in Borno

By NDAHI MARAMA, Maiduguri
Unknown gunmen yesterday set a police station ablaze before attacking one of the old generation banks at the Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State killing four persons in the process and leaving many others with various degrees of injuries.
A policeman was among those killed during the mayhem.
The attack which started in the early hours of the day was said to have thrown the residents into  confusion as the gunmen unleashed terror in the local government for over two hours.
Another incident was also witnessed in the state  yesterday evening when some two gunmen launched an attack along Gomari Airport Ward, Lawan Street at Jere Local government area shooting one person, on both legs and arms.
The latest victim was said to have relocated to Lawan Street from another part of Maiduguri metropolis about three weeks ago but his enemies trailed him to his new abode.
The incident which took place at about 5pm caused pandemonium as people in the area were forced to  take cover in  their houses. Sources from the area told Saturday Vanguard that the residents believed that the gunmen must have visited the area to rob the old generation bank where they succeded in carting away huge amount of money in view of the way they coordinated themselves before launching the attacks.
According to the sources, two persons were killed in bank while a police man was also killed during the attack on the police station just as another unidentified corpse was found by the roadside with bullet wounds, shortly after the attack.
“Also another dead person was seen by the roadside with bullet wounds and the people around there said it was the gunmen that shot him. We have never witnessed such attack in this local government, but we have been hearing of attacks every day in Maiduguri. We never believed it would happen here,’’ the sources added.
According to the sources, the gunmen  left the town in a commando style, ‘’making many us to wonder if they were actually members of the sect that have been attacking the state or armed robbers.’’
“They only targeted the police station and the bank, they did not attack any place of worship or any group of persons aside those whom they thought wanted to stay on their way. Even in the bank, we heard that they only beat up customers and later went for the cash except for two people they killed which we don’t know whether they were security men or customers thought to have tried to resist them.”
Meanwhile, shortly after the 5pm attack at Gomari, it was learnt that the men of the Joint Task Force, JTF, condoned off the street with a view to apprehending the culprits, but their efforts did yield any result as the gunmen fled the scene about 30 minutes before their arrival at the scene.
It was further learnt that the JTF  started shooting sporadically into the air on their arrival before  taking the victim to an undisclosed hospital.
Confirming the first incident to newsmen in Maiduguri, the Police Public Relations Officer , PPRO,  Samuel Tizhe said that he ‘’heard of the attack at AskiraUba Local Government,’’ but added that they were yet to be furnished with the details.
The Spokesman for the JTF, Lt Col. Sagir Musa and the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO ASP Samule Tizhe could not be reached for confirmation on the second attack at the time of filing in this report.