Boko Haram storms Bama Barracks

Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said Boko Haram terrorists’ launched an attack on Bama Barracks, Borno in the early hours of Friday. But they were repelled by Nigerian troops.

Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, the Director of Defence Information, said the barracks were attacked by terrorists who, he believed, came from cells located across Nigeria’s border with Cameroon through Banki town.

Olukolade said troops backed by the Air Force repelled the attack, adding that “the military is in pursuit of the insurgents.

“High calibre weapons such as anti-aircraft and rocket propelled guns were used in the attack that lasted several hours.’’

The statement added that details of casualties recorded in the incident would be released when the ongoing cordon and search operation in the area was concluded.

“Reinforcement has been dispatched to enhance the operation in pursuit of the terrorists. Normalcy has been restored in the barracks and the surrounding communities have properly been secured,” he said.

On 2 December, Boko Haram militants also attacked the Airforce Base and army barracks in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, inflicting heavy casualties on Nigerian forces.

According to military sources and residents, in the latest attack, the Boko Haram gunmen sprayed gunfire on the troops inside before torching the compound. The gun battle lasted several hours.

The barracks in the town of Bama “was in the early hours of today (Friday) attacked by terrorists,” said a statement from Mohammed Dole, army spokesman in Borno state, the epicentre of the Boko Haram conflict

“High calibre weapons such as anti-aircraft and rocket propelled guns were freely used in the attack that lasted several hours,” the statement further said.

Residents reported that dozens, or perhaps even hundreds, of insurgents swarmed the barracks in a convoy of 4X4 trucks, armed with assault rifles, explosives and rocket-propelled-grenades.

“It started at around three in the morning with huge explosions and the cracking of gunfire,” said Bama resident Abdullahi Idris. “Later we saw plumes of smoke and fire from the barracks.”

“A large section of the barracks” had been destroyed by fire, said another resident who asked for anonymity but identified himself as a member of the vigilante force which has formed in Borno to fight the Islamists.

Borno and two other states of Nigeria’s northeast were placed under a state of emergency in May.

The military operation launched in the region to crush the uprising has entered its eighth month but its effectiveness has been widely questioned.

Defence officials have claimed Boko Haram is now only capable of attacking soft targets, but Friday’s raid in Bama, which came after a December 2 assault on the army and air force in Maiduguri, indicates the insurgents are still capable of daring offensives.