TheCable

Suspected Boko Haram insurgents launched an attack on Damaturu, capital of Yobe state, around 7pm on Friday, a witness told AFP.

The militants were said to have returned on a reprisal after security forces raided one of their strongholds in the state.

An attack from the sect late last year made Ibrahim Gaidam, governor of the state, to impose a curfew.In that particular attack, soldiers prevented them from taking over the government house.

However, security personnel are said to be engaging the insurgents in a battle at the time when this report was being filed.

“The gunmen arrived at around 7:30 pm (1830 GMT), firing guns and shouting ‘Allahu Akbar!’ (God is greatest),” said Mukhtar Sani, a student of the Yobe State University.

“All the streets are deserted. Everybody has moved indoors and all we hear are sounds of gunfire.”

The sect has unleashed mayhem on several communities in the north-eastern part of the country, raising fears about the possibility of holding elections in the troubled states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

But during a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan and service chiefs, the governors of those states urged the federal government to go ahead with the election but fortify the region with troops.

They maintained that it would be inappropriate to deprive the residents of the states their fundamental rights when security could be beefed up to prevent attacks.

Boko Haram left its tales of tears and blood in Baga, a community in Borno within the week, killing about 2,000 people in what a witness referred to as one of the worst attacks in the history of the group.