By NDAHI MARAMA

MAIDUGURI — Gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram Islamic sect, yesterday, struck again at the Innovative Secondary School in the Customs area of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, killing four teachers and two students.

This came as another set of suspected terrorists laid ambush to a farm along Maiduguri-Mafa-Dikwa Road and killed two farmers, including the owner of the Mango and Guava plantations.

Vanguard gathered that the gunmen numbering about four entered the school premises at about noon and met a female teacher who had gone to invigilate the ongoing NECO examination.

They however, had mercy on the teacher who begged them to spare her life, after collecting her hand bag and the envelop containing the question papers and ordered her to leave the school premises.

The gunmen later moved towards other teachers sitting under a tree and opened fire, killing all of them on the spot before fleeing the area.

A source said: “The spate of killings of innocent people is becoming a source of concern to people; it is unfortunate that, students, teachers and poor farmers have now become the targets of terrorists.”

‘They regrouped’

A top security source who  confided in Vanguard said, dozens of terrorists living in the Sambisa Game Reserve fled to Mandara Mountains and other Hilly areas of Gwoza Local Government which is bordering Cameroon Republic among other desert areas of the state.

According to him, “some of the terrorists who fled from their camps in Sambisa have regrouped, and are launching attacks on Maiduguri and other areas in Yobe and Borno states.

“I am sure that the security agencies are aware and we will take decisive measures to ensure that there is no hiding place for the terrorists in the state.”

Due to lack of telecommunication services for the past one month in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, the Joint Task Force Spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa and the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Gideon Jubrin could not be reached for confirmation at the time of going to press.

48 villagers murdered

On Tuesday, an armed gang raided Kizara village in Zamfara State, killing 48 residents according to the Commissioner for Information, Mallam Ibrahim Birnin-Magaji.

He said the gunmen arrived the village on motorbikes, took positions on top of a hill then moved from house to house.

He said: “Some of them climbed up the hill overlooking the village and opened fire indiscriminately.

“They later moved from house to house, telling residents that they were looking for members of local vigilante groups, whom they said had been disturbing them.

“Police from nearby Keta mobilised and engaged the bandits in a shootout, but were overwhelmed by the gunmen’s superior firepower and forced to retreat.”

He said those killed included the local chief, the chief imam and the head of the vigilante group in the village.