The Joint Task Force, JTF, over the weekend, claims to have killed no fewer than 50 suspected terrorists in Zabarmari Ward of Jere Local Government Area of Borno State, Maiduguri metropolis.
Also, three suspected terrorists who were on their way to Jigawa State and other areas in the North with the aim of unleashing terror were arrested at the Borno Express Motor park on Saturday by volunteer youths a.k.a Civilian JTF.
Speaking on the suspected terrorists killed by men of the JTF, a security source said: “Over the weekend, we received an intelligence report that several Boko Haram terrorists have regrouped and were residing in Zabarmari Ward. We mobilized troops and descended on the area, the suspected terrorists upon noticing our presence, began to shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ (Allah is Great) and started shooting at the JTF troops. We had no option than to repel the attacks while we succeeded in killing about 10 of the suspects.
“We decided not to take away any of their corpses as we left them in the area, but the following day when we mobilized our men to the area, we found out that hundreds of the terrorists were at one of the grave yards burying their dead members, and when we approached, some of them started shooting at our troops which led to the exchange of gun fire. We succeeded in killing over 40 more of them.
“As I am talking to you now, our men are still in Zabarmari hunting for any suspected terrorists who might have escaped the deadly encounter”.
On the arrest of three suspected Boko Haram members who were on a suicide mission to Jigawa and other states in the North, the source said: “The men of the JTF are highly delighted with the zeal/effort being put in place by the vigilante youths popularly called Civilian JTF. Just yesterday, they were able to arrest three suspected Boko Haram suspects at the Borno Express motor park.
“They later handed them over to the JTF unit, and after torture, one of them who is now dead, said, they were from Bama Local Government Area on a suicide mission to Jigawa and other states in the North. In fact, the deceased before his death told us that, already, all their weapons of massive destruction have been transported to the target areas awaiting their arrival before they ran out of luck.”
The source added that though one of the arrested suspects was unconscious after the torture, the other suspect who seemed to be in stable condition promised to take JTF members to Bama to show them some of their members’ hideout.
Due to the total shut down of GSM network services in Borno State for almost two months, the JTF Spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa and the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Gideon Jubrin could not be reached for confirmation.