Again, Damaturu under heavy Boko Haram attack

Damaturu, the Yobe state capital, has again come under intense assault by suspected Boko Haram militants, barely a month after a similar attack killed many residents.

Residents and security operatives said the city is currently under heavy gunfire and multiple explosions forcing people to cringe in their homes.

Umar Haruna, a civil servant residing in Damaturu told PREMIUM TIMES that the city and its residents have come under attack again.

He said the attack started at about 8p.m.

“We are under attack; gun shooting everywhere in Damaturu…we dont know what to do now,” he said.

A top security officer of the State Security Service, SSS, who refused to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the development, told our correspondent via SMS that “Yes, there is an attack going on here and I believe the soldiers and the police are containing the attacks”.

The attack is the second in the last two months on Damaturu.

The insurgents had launched a heavy attack on the capital on December 1, targeting the government house.

The attack was successfully repelled by the Nigerian security forces.

UPDATE [10:30PM, Friday January 9, 2015]

Reports at this time indicate that soldiers are succeeding in repelling the attacking Boko Haram terrorists, preventing them from gaining entry into the Yobe state capital.

A security official said the soldiers, stationed in Damaturu, are fighting the insurgents on the fringes of the town even as they are currently exchanging fire with the terrorists near Katarko village, some 20km away.

“As I have said earlier we are on top of the situation as far as this attack is concerned because our men have been fully mobilised to deal with such situation and presently we have already pushed them back towards Gujba road near one village called Katarko,” the official told PREMIUM TIMES.

A resident of Damaturu, who also provided an update said,  “We are happy that the shooting has gone down even though we still hear periodic sounds of gun shooting and detonation of explosives.”