Boko Haram ambushes convoy, kill cop in Borno
*as gunmen kill 5 boundary officials in Adamawa
By Tom Garba, Yola with Agency Reports
Suspected Boko Haram terrorists, on Tuesday night, reportedly ambushed a police patrol vehicle in Borno state, killing one police officer and injuring another.
This is coming on the heels of the attack of bandits in Komcha village of the Republic of Cameroon where five officials of the International Boundary Committee, set up by the United Nations, were killed. They were on a mission of delineating border towns between Nigeria and Cameroun.
The spokesperson for the Borno State Police Command, Mr. Victor Isuku, confirmed the Boko Haram attack, saying that the officers were ambushed on their way to Maiduguri from Biu at about 10:30 pm on Tuesday.
“A police patrol vehicle from Biu Area Command on investigation activity to Maiduguri, was ambushed and attacked by persons reasonably believed to be Boko Haram terrorists at Kubuwa village in Damboa Local Government Area. The team fought gallantly, and were able to repel the attackers who ran into the bush with some of them sustaining injuries,’’ Mr. Isuku said.
“However, we lost a policeman, while another sustained gunshot wounds,” he added.
In the trans-border attack, the five officials of the International Boundary Committee were said to be on a mission to demarcate the boundaries between the two countries following the International Court of Justice verdict, during former President Olusegun Obasanjo era, which ceded the oil rich Bakassi phenusula to Cameroon.
Reports from the areas revealed that while the officials were on their mission, they were attacked by bandits at Komcha village in the Republic of Cameroun.
The reports further revealed that so far, the identities of some, of the victims of the attack have been confirmed to be nationalities of Kenya, Cameroon and Nigeria.
While briefing journalists at the Government House Yola on Wednesday, the Adamawa state Commissioner for Justice, Silas Sanga who confirmed the incident, said that the remains of the officials have been conveyed to the state preparatory for transporting them to their states in Nigeria and country of origin.
The Commissioner, however, did not give the identities of the members of the international committee that were involved in the attack.
According reports, the officials were in the area to study the boundary issue between Nigeria and Cameroon and were attacked by armed bandits on their missions in the bird gowns of Cameroon republic.
One other report alleged that the victims were attacked by Cameroonian gendarmes in Koncha, a border town between Cameroon and Nigeria’s Toungo local government area of Adamawa state.
Already, a delegation of the Adamawa state government, headed by the deputy governor, Martins Babale, are putting finishing touches on how to send the remains of attack victims to their respective places.
The delegation, which included Adamawa state Commissioner for Land and Survey, Alhaji Ibrahim Mijinyawa, and some top officials of the ministry, have been mobilized at the Federal Medical Centre Yola to receive the corps of the victims.
