Boko Haram fighters yesterday launched a major attack in Adamawa State, capturing the commercial town of Mubi, where they killed many people and released inmates from a prison.
Mubi is the second-largest town in Adamawa, located about 200 kilometres from the state capital Yola.
Residents of the town and nearby communities said the insurgents came for the raid in about 14 trucks, with some of the vehicles conveying women and children, believed to be families of some fighters.
Boko Haram had overrun and occupied some communities in state, including Bazza, Michika, Gulak and Madagali, causing thousands of residents to flee to other parts of the country and Cameroon.
Yesterday’s morning attack on Mubi came less than two weeks after military authorities announced a ceasefire with Boko Haram.
Military sources told Daily Trust that the raid followed earlier attempts by troops to reclaim Bazza on Tuesday evening. One source said soldiers had on Monday repaired a bridge that was reportedly damaged by the Air Force, in order to halt the advancing Boko Haram before the ceasefire.
“After troops had entered the town, the insurgents drove in five armoured-personnel carriers and repelled them and this (yesterday) morning, they launched a counter-attack,” a soldier said.
Troops stationed at Mubi town had all withdrawn to Gumbi and Hong, less than a hundred kilometers to the state capital Yola, another soldier said.
A Mubi-based businessman told our correspondent by telephone that residents of the town had taken to the mountains to escape being killed, and watched the insurgents advance on the town while the military carried out airstrikes on them.
“We watched from the mountains when the aircraft was dropping bombs on the military barracks and I think it was targeting the advancing militants,” he said.
Witnesses said the insurgents broke into the town’s prison and set free all the inmates, before taking over the palace of the Emir of Mubi, who is said to be away in Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage.
Another resident, Adamu Mohammed, who spoke to our correspondent by telephone from Mubi last night, said they were taking refuge at an area called Tashan Galan, while their wives and children had fled to the mountains.
“We saw the prisoners escaping after the prison gate was breached by the Boko Haram members. They told people not to panic that they were only after soldiers, not civilians. At present, no single soldier is inside Mubi,” Mohammed said.
Another resident, Habu Abidi, said hundreds of people were trooping out to Maiha and Gella while some were trapped, depending on their location in the town.
An aid worker told Daily Trust that when they arrived, the insurgents marched along major streets in the town on motorcycles, vans and armoured vehicles, waving at residents in a triumphant gesture.
“They overran the army barracks, burnt a police station and prisoners have been set free. You can hear loud voices, it is the insurgents addressing the people on the streets but we are in panic because we don’t know what will happen next,” he said.
Another source in Mubi said, “Some soldiers lost their lives, so also the insurgents but eventually the insurgents overpowered the military and took over control of the town.”
A resident, who watched the insurgents driving through Uba, a community about 30 kilometres to Mubi, early morning yesterday, said Boko Haram fighters drove into the town in 14 vehicles, some of them conveying women and children, on their way to Mubi.
He said the insurgents killed five people in the town, one of the victims “for refusing to stop making a phone call.”
“They drove past us around 7am, with women and children in their company, announcing that they were relocating from Gwoza,” he said.
“Every now and then, they would yell at people: ‘we have left Gwoza for you, go and occupy it’,” he added.
He said some of the vehicles on the convoy later came back with truckloads of food items from Mubi axis and headed for Bazza, before returning after a while.
The Army Public Relations Officer of the 23 Armoured Brigade in Yola said he could not confirm the loss of Mubi to the insurgents.
Spokesman for the Defence Headquarters in Abuja, Major General Chris Olukolade, did not respond to inquiries on the reported capture of Mubi.
Adamawa Governor Bala Ngilari’s spokesman Phineas Elisha said security forces were in control of the situation, urging residents to remain calm.
“(The governor) has met with security chiefs in the state. People should remain calm, security agents are on the top of situation,” he said.
Two weeks ago, military authorities announced a ceasefire which they said had been reached with the sect. But attacks by suspected Boko Haram members in parts of the North-East continued unabated, raising questions on the authenticity of the ceasefire.
Source: Daily Trust
