Attack on telecoms facilities extend to Yobe

The attacks on telecom installations in the north continued on Thursday, extending to Yobe state.

 

The attacks on telecommunication installations in some states in northern Nigeria continued Thursday when base stations owned by some major operators -Airtel, Globacom, and Etisalat – were reportedly set ablaze in Potiskum and Damaturu, Yobe State.

Reports from the area said Improvised Explosive Device (IEDS) and Petrol bombs were used to cause major damage to the masts.

Thursday’s attacks follow a similar one on some 15 different base stations in Borno, Kano and Bauchi States.

One person, a security guard at one of the targeted stations was reportedly injured at the Bauchi attack while the Police in the state claim to have defused one of the IEDs placed at another mast.

The spokesperson of the Police in the state, Hassan Auyo, confirmed the incident without giving more details.

Although no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the radical sect, Boko Haram, had in February in a telephone conference with Journalists in Maiduguri threatened that the sect will carry out attacks on telecom firms.

The spokesperson of the sect, Abu Qaqa, who was said to have issued the threat said they resolved to attack the telecom firms and the Nigeria Communication Commission, NCC, because security agencies are using the services of the GSM operators to track and arrest their members.

“We have realised that the mobile phone operators and the NCC have been assisting security agencies in tracking and arresting our members by bugging their lines and enabling the security agents to locate the position of our members,” he said.

Mr. Qaqa said two of the sect’s principal officers, Abu Darda and Kabiru Sokoto, were tracked and arrested with the help of the GSM service providers.

The Commander of the Joint Task Force in Yobe, Dahiru Abdulsalam, could not confirm the attacks.

“Please contact the police PRO (public relations officer). I do not have any information,” he told PREMIUM TIMES.

Efforts to reach the PRO were unsuccessful.