A member of Civilian JTF, Tanko Dahiru has said suspected Boko Haram gunmen, in a convoy of pickup trucks, attacked Pulka village in Borno State, kidnapping 18 girls and four women, without killing or injuring any person in the early hours of Thursday.
Pulka is a border village with Cameroon, and 119 kilometres southeast of Maiduguri, the state capital. Confirming the incident, yesterday, the village head, told The Guardian that the girls were abducted, while fleeing into the bush, but the women were “forcefully bundled” into waiting pickup trucks from their makeshift huts.
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He said the insurgents burst into the village through the eastern flank before attacking the village to abduct the girls. He said: “The Boko Haram fighters are from Mamman Nur camp. They arrived in pickup vans around 6:00am and seized 14 of our young girls aged 17 and below. Our people had to flee into the bush, but no one was killed in the attack.”
He said the insurgents kidnapped four other girls fleeing the raid, whom they came across in the bush outside the village. He said the insurgents were loyal to the Boko Haram faction of Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, son of Mohammed Yusuf and founder of the Islamist sect.
Umaru Hodo, a villager also confirmed the raid and warned that the abducted girls are likely to end up as brides to some of the insurgents. “They didn’t harm anyone during the raid and they made no attempt to shoot any of us running away from this village,” said Hodo.
The Borno State police command is yet to respond to the fresh attack and abductions at Pulka, while a statement from the military was being expected at the time of filing this report.
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In a related development, the Army has said a high-ranking member of the Boko Haram terrorist group, Bulama Kailani Mohammed Metele, has surrendered to 145 Task Force Battalion, 5 Brigade troops at Damasak. Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, Army spokesman made this known in a statement, yesterday, in Maiduguri.
Usman said Metele, from Tumbun Bera in Borno, belonged to Mamman Nur’s faction of the terrorists group under the leadership of Abu Mustapha.
He said Metele was of serial number 253 on the Nigerian Army’s wanted Boko Haram terrorists poster produced recently. “He is currently undergoing further interrogation,’’ he said.
