The police have confirmed that suspected Lakurawa terrorists attacked Kebbe town in Sokoto State on Friday, saying security personnel responded and reinforcements were deployed to the area.
The police also said no civilian was killed or injured in the attack.
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Reports published after the incident said four soldiers were killed during the confrontation, but the Nigerian Army did not confirm the reported death toll when contacted by PREMIUM TIMES.
The spokesperson for the Sokoto State Police Command, Ahmad Rufai, told PREMIUM TIMES that a large number of armed fighters entered Kebbe, the headquarters of Kebbe Local Government Area, on Friday morning and engaged security personnel.
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He said police personnel responded to the attack and suffered no casualties.
“They attacked and we were able to respond, but we don’t have any casualty from our side,” Mr Rufai said.
He said he had received information that the military had suffered casualties but declined to state a figure, as he could not speak for the army.
“I cannot confirm an issue that is not ours. So, I can’t speak about their casualties,” he said when asked about reports that four soldiers were killed.
Army declines to confirm reported deaths
Following the police spokesperson’s referral, PREMIUM TIMES contacted Olaniyi Osoba, a lieutenant colonel and acting deputy director of Army Public Relations for the Nigerian Army’s 8 Division and Sector 2 of Operation FANSAN YAMMA, to establish whether troops were involved in the confrontation and whether the reported deaths of four soldiers were accurate.
The military spokesperson declined to confirm or deny the casualty figure, citing security protocols governing the disclosure of operational information.
Mr Osoba said that details concerning military operations and casualties could not be provided remotely and advised this reporter to visit the Headquarters, 8 Division, at Giginya Military Cantonment in Sokoto, or to await a formal statement from the division.
When PREMIUM TIMES explained during the telephone conversation that confirmation was being sought to avoid publishing an inaccurate casualty figure, Mr Osoba maintained that he was bound by the army’s protocol.
Police deploy reinforcements
Mr Rufai said reinforcements had been sent to Kebbe from the Sokoto command headquarters following the attack.
“Since it happened, we sent reinforcement from the command headquarters, and they are still there,” he said.
He said personnel stationed in the neighbouring town of Tambuwal also joined the deployment.
According to him, the deployment was intended to strengthen security around Kebbe town and the police division.
“The area is calm now, as we speak,” he told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday night.
Lakurawa
Asked whether the attackers were members of Lakurawa, Mr Rufai said the Kebbe axis had increasingly experienced incursions associated with the group.
He said armed elements move through parts of northern Sokoto, including Gudu, Tangaza, Silame and Binji, towards Kebbe, which borders Kebbi State to the south and west and Zamfara State to the east.
“Most of these things that attack Kebbe, they are Lakurawas because there’s a forest there which they reside there,” he said.
He also referred to previous Lakurawa activity around neighbouring areas, including the Maiyama axis of Kebbi State, where PREMIUM TIMES reported in February that troops repelled an ambush by suspected Lakurawa fighters near Mayama Hill.
Mr Rufai said the attackers usually operate in large numbers and carry weapons, but declined to estimate how many participated in Friday’s attack.
“They don’t come in few. They always come in large numbers carrying weapons,” he said.
He explained that security personnel responding during an attack would find it difficult to make a reliable count.
Hospital report not confirmed
The initial report of the attack said the armed men entered Kebbe General Hospital and robbed patients of mobile phones and other belongings.
Mr Rufai said the police did not have information confirming that aspect of the incident.
“I don’t have that information at hand,” he said.
He also clarified that reports of a police vehicle and a Community Guard Corps vehicle being burnt referred to a separate attack about two weeks earlier.
“It was not this attack,” he said.
The report also said vehicles around the hospital premises were damaged during Friday’s attack. PREMIUM TIMES could not independently verify the claim.
Attackers reportedly moved through another community
Sokoto-based security analyst Bashar Altine, who monitored developments during and after the attack, said the fighters moved through the Sabon Gari area of Kebbe, where shops were reportedly broken into and goods taken.
Mr Altine said the attackers were subsequently sighted around Ungushi, another community in Kebbe Local Government Area.
PREMIUM TIMES could not independently verify the reported movement of the attackers after they left Kebbe town.
Mr Rufai said determining casualties among the attackers was also difficult because armed groups sometimes evacuate their dead and wounded while retreating.
He said security agencies would only confirm such casualties where there was physical evidence.
The Kebbe attack comes amid continuing security operations against Lakurawa and other armed groups in Sokoto, Kebbi and other parts of the North-west.
In May, PREMIUM TIMES reported attacks on military positions in Sokoto and Kebbi amid growing concerns over jihadist activity in the region.
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