1st May, 2012
A Cameroonian, Fatima Mohammed was among two women captured by men of the Kano Joint Task Force, JTF, when they carried out a raid at a Boko Haram hideout in Bubugaje area of Sharada Phase 111, Kano Northwest Nigeria, this morning.
During the raid on a thre-bedroom flat located at an isolated axis of the area, Fatima, Habibu Abubakar, a pregnant woman form Maiduguri and a little child were rescued by members of the JTF, before gunning down their husband suspected to be the mastermind of last Sunday’s attack on a Catholic church at Bayero University Kano, BUK, during which at least 20 people, including two Professors were killed.
Security sources said the rescued women were being questioned to get more clues on the hideouts of the remnants of the Boko Haram sect residing within the area termed as one of the major dens of the Islamic fundamentalists who have launched deadly attacks on Kano since 20 January this year.
During the January incident, over 200 people lost their lives in the sect’s most coordinated attacks on the state and security agencies.
According to residents of Bubugaje, the slain Boko Haram member whose name is yet to be known came into the area about two months ago.
“He did not communicate with anybody. He does his things his own way. We see him leave the house on a motorbike and he has no friend within the neighbourhood,” said a resident.
A security chief told P.M.NEWS that the successful attack carried out by the JTF in the early hours of today followed some useful information received from members of the public.
It was also learnt that following the identification of Fatima as a Cameroonian, directives have been issued from Abuja to intensify security at all the border towns in northern Nigeria while intelligence officers have been deployed in all spots identified as hideouts of members of the Islamic sect in Kano and other parts of the North.
The Bubugaje raid was supervised by Director of State Security Service, SSS, Commander 3 Brigade, Nigeria Army, Kano and the state Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Idris, who said the JTF recovered AK 47 rifle, 35 knives, 6 high calibre remote control Improvised Explosive Devices, laptops, 458 rounds of live ammunition, a bank deposit slip and Islamic leaflets.
According to the Commander of the 3 Brigade of the Nigerian Army kano, Brigadier General Isa Abbah the raided building looks like a bomb factory, adding that the three-hour raid was another major breakthrough by the JTF.