Gunmen kill four, set police station ablaze in Borno

Mohammed Abubakar, Inspector General, Nigerian Police Force

MAIDUGURI — FOUR people were killed while several others were injured when gunmen, suspected to be members of the Jamatul ahlis Sunnah lid Daawa wal Jihad aka Boko Haram, attacked a police station in Gubio, the headquarters of  Gubio Local Government Area of Borno State.

A resident, Mallam Usman Gubio, said the attackers also burnt down a police station and the local government secretariat.

According to him, “many people ran away from their houses and took refuge in safer places. We have never experienced such in this local government, but I do not know if any civilian was killed. However, I saw about four corpses of police officers being conveyed in a vehicle. Security is now beefed up around the local government and we also learnt that the police have made some arrests.”

Gubio said when they heard gun shots, they all rushed into their houses and locked the doors but later they had to leave their houses when some of their relatives asked them to leave the area, as it was no longer safe.

Confirming the incident, the state Police Commissioner Bala Hassan said “two policemen and one civilian were killed in the attack in Gubio local government.”

The Commissioner of Police did not give further clarification as his phone went off after he confirmed the killings.

When newsmen contacted spokesman of the Joint Task Force, JTF, Operation Restore Order in Borno, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, he said the situation in Gubio was purely a police affair.