By Michael Olugbode
Boko Haram insurgents have overrun Kukawa, a town in Borno State, Northeast Nigeria, abducting over 100 persons, security sources have revealed.
According to sources in the Civilian Joint Task Force, the insurgents drove into the town with over 20 trucks on the shores of Lake Chad.
The sources said the terrorists announced their entry into the town with sporadic gunshots, engaging the Nigerian troops stationed in the town for over 30 minutes.
He said the insurgents went away with over 100 persons as hostages after they were able to suppress and push back the military.
One of the sources said: “At around 4pm on Tuesday, terrorists in about 20 trucks overran the town of Kukawa. They engaged soldiers guarding the people in a ferocious firefight.
“After about 30 minutes of engaging the military in ferocious fire exchange, they (insurgents) were able to overpower them and went away with over 100 hostages.”
This latest abduction may have made nonsense of the planned relocation of the internally displayed persons (IDPs) back to their homeland as the residents of Kukawa were just relocated on August 2.
The residents were escorted by the military during the relocation as part of the resettlement plan of the state government.
When contacted at the time of filing this report, the spokesman of Borno State Governor (Prof. Babagana Zulum), Mallam Isa Gusau, said he did not have the details of the attack just yet.
On his part, the spokesman of the Army, Col. Sagir Musa, asked for patience, promising that the military will soon come out with a release.
