By Umar Yusuf
YOLA—Suspected members of Boko Haram, Monday night, attacked two Adamawa communities, burning houses and looting foodstuff.
Residents fled as the terrorists attacked Nyibango and Muduhu, both in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
The attacks come a few days after a similar incident in a neighbouring Mildu village in the same local government. About seven people were killed in the Mildu attack.
This came as the Nigerian Army, yesterday, inaugurated a special mobile strike force in a renewed onslaught against Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East.
Speaking on the attacks, the Chairman of Madagali Local Government Area, Yusuf Muhammed, said the attack lasted for nearly two hours, with the jihadists burning many houses and looting foodstuff.
According to him, “they looted foodstuff, killed livestock and burnt the villages completely, including churches and the residence of one councillor, John Hammajam.”
Muhammed said the exact number of the dead and injured was yet to be ascertained and that villagers who escaped the attack fled the area.
A fleeing resident, Hamma Adamu, also said the terrorists shot sporadically and razed houses and places of worships. He said the insurgents invaded the village when residents were preparing to go to bed.
Also speaking, the lawmaker representing Madagali/Michika Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Adamu Kamale, also said that Madagali Local Government Area was the worst affected by insurgency in the state.
Army’s new strike force
Meanwhile, on the new special mobile strike force, Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, inaugurated the force at Maimalari Cantonment, Maiduguri, yesterday.
He said the special strike force was one of the new approaches evolved by the military to end insurgency and enhance security network in the region.
He said that soldiers deployed to the force were exposed to modern terrorism combat techniques to enable them to crush the insurgents.
His words: “The Mobile Strike Force, MST, is launched to deny the insurgents freedom of action and finally decimate them.
“This specially selected force, with mixed equipment and platforms, were deployed to achieve the conduct of long range patrols and ambush deep into the hinterlands.
“All these are in an effort to ensure the success of Operation Lafiya Dole and enhance our operational efficiency.”
