AGAIN, BOKO HARAM ABDUCTS 20 WOMEN IN CHIBOK

• DSS nabs suspect over sect funding
• Troops kill 50 insurgents

As the search for the abducted 200 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State continues, suspected members of Boko Haram sect have kidnapped another set of 20 women from the same town.

The incident occurred on monday at noon in a nomadic Chibok settlement when the men had left the community to feed their cattle. The only three youths who were at home with the women were also taken away by the gunmen who allegedly stormed the area in Hilux vans.

On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram insurgents invaded the dormitories of the female students and took to an unknown destination over 200 girls. Although the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alexander Badeh recently said the military had located the abducted students, their release is still a far cry despite supports from major world powers.

Yesterday’s abduction, according to agency reports, occurred while the hapless women were carrying out their daily chores. Their husbands, who arrived home from their field operations, the reports said, met an empty settlement.
One of them told Bloomberg, a news medium, that the invaders had no resistance from the defenceless women.

A community leader told the news medium that the Fulani women were taken away when the assailants attacked the settlement known as Garkin Fulani near Chibok at noon (yesterday) and ordered the women into their vehicles at gunpoint.

A member of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria, who identified himself as Alhaji Tar, told Bloomberg on phone that the abducted women were driven off to an unknown location.
“We got information that they went there and took away the women when none of the males were there. The three young men they met there could not help the women, as the gunmen also ordered the three of them to enter the Hilux vans and took all of them away,” he said.

Troops kill 50 insurgents
Meanwhile, 50 Boko Haram insurgents have been reportedly killed by troops in an ambush in Bilta village in Borno State.
Coordinator of the National Information Centre, NIC, Mr. Mike Omeri, told journalists in Abuja, yesterday that four soldiers were wounded in the said operation and were receiving treatment in a military hospital.

According to Omeri, the operation took place last Saturday when troops conducting anti-terrorism campaign in the North-East successfully averted an attempt by insurgents to massively raid some villages in Borno and Adamawa states.

Also confirming the killing, Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, in a statement, said the terrorists were on their way to attack selected communities but were ambushed by troops along Bilta, Borno on receiving intelligence report of the terrorists’ intention.
Olukolade said the attack was launched on the terrorists as they filed out of the forest to embark on their mission at about 10pm on Saturday.

“Over 50 terrorists died in the fierce encounter that ensued, while 30 rifles, 36 hand grenades, seven machine guns and 11 rocket-propelled grenade tubes were captured by the troops. Also recovered from the terrorists were over 3,500 rounds of ammunition, six smoke grenade canisters and locally fabricated guns, as well as four vehicles used by the terrorists in the foiled attack. The four soldiers wounded in the operation are currently receiving medical treatment at a military medical facility”, the statement revealed.

DSS nabs suspect over sect funding
Also at the NIC briefing yesterday, it was disclosed that the Directorate of State Security Services, DSS, apprehended a suspect masquerading as a front for the dreaded Boko Haram.
Mike Omeri said the suspect is being interrogated, claiming that he had been going about extorting money from some influential Nigerians as protection money. “This is therefore an advice and a warning signal to Nigerians to be vigilant over the activities of such characters using Boko Haram as a franchise,” Omeri warned.

Omeri urged Nigerians to cooperate with security agencies despite inconveniences as they conduct their operations to rid the country of terrorists.
Fielding questions from journalists, the Deputy Director, Public Relations of DSS, Ms. Marilyn Ogar, revealed that Col. Agene Ogwuche (rtd), father of the alleged co-mastermind of Nyanya Motor Park April 14, 2014 bomb blast, Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche, would remain in the DSS custody until the fugitive is repatriated to Nigeria.

Fugitive Ogwuche, a military deserter, was declared wanted by the secret police alongside co-mastermind, Rufai Tsiga a.k.a. Dr. Tsiga and Aminu Ogwuche with a cash reward of N25million for information that could lead to their arrests.

However, Ogwuche was arrested on May 13, 2014 in Sudan following an international red alert issued for his search and arrest by the National Bureau of International Police, INTERPOL based at the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters, in Abuja.

Since then, his father, a retired army officer, who took the fugitive on bail, has been in DSS detention, and Ms. Ogar said he cannot be released until Aminu is extradited.
Source: Nigerian Pilot