Boko Haram leader, 70 insurgents killed

Military forces have killed 70 insurgents and arrested Boko Haram sect suspected leader in Gwoza Hill in Borno State.

The feat was as a result of the military’s intense campaign to check the excesses of insurgents in the North-East zone.

The leader was said to have been arrested on Thursday night while attempting to flee the captured Gwoza Hills camp of the insurgents with a black Toyota Land Cruiser Jeep in his escort. He was allegedly flown to Abuja for further interrogation.

The captured leader is suspected to be a high-ranking member of the sect according to sources.

Security officials said that the captured Boko Haram leader might be a very key person to the operation of the sect for him to have such a massive and luxury escort comprising Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles.

It was learnt that troops killed over 70 insurgents at Bita community in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State and Bama headquarters of Bama Local Government Area of Borno State.

The insurgents were said to have been killed in two separate gun battles with troops at Bita and Bama where Armoured Personnel Carriers and military tanks were fully deployed on Thursday.

The Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, asked for time to confirm the report.

Meanwhile, 17 people have been killed by an explosion in a village market in Borno State in an attack linked Boko Haram.

The blast struck a busy marketplace late on Thursday in the remote village of Nguro-Soye, injuring many more, said police chief Lawan Tanko.

“An explosion in the market in Nguro-Soye killed 17 people,” Tanko told AFP, adding that police were investigating the source of the explosion.

“The attack on Nguro-Soye, as in previous attacks, is the handiwork of Boko Haram insurgents.”

Residents who fled the village to the state capital, Maiduguri put the death toll at nearly 30, and said more people were hurt.

“They (attackers) fired RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) on the market and opened fire, killing 29 people,” said local trader Hamisu Ibrahim.

“Many people were injured in the attack and the stampede that followed,” said Ibrahim.

Nguro-Soye lies close to the town of Bama where 60 people were killed last month in coordinated bomb and gun attacks by Boko Haram that burnt half the town.

Deadly attacks blamed on the sect have intensified since the turn of the year, making it one of the bloodiest since the insurgency began in 2009.

So far in 2014 some 700 people have been killed in more than 40 incidents, according to Human Rights Watch.

“There is an ongoing military operation in the area (Borno) against the group and the attack was likely in frustration over their losses,” Tanko said.

“It is not established whether the attack explosion at the market which killed 17 people was as a result of planted IED (improvised explosive device) or RPG.”

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