No fewer than 16 persons were on Thursday
killed in both Damaturu and Potiskum, Yobe
state as suspected sect member continued
the destruction of telecommunication masts in
Northern Nigeria, a source at the General Sani
Abacha Specialist Hospital said. The Damaturu destruction is coming just 24
hours after same operation was carried out
by hoodlums in Maiduguri and Kano. The destruction of the facilities was
accompanied by killings and burning of some
structures in the restive Damaturu and
Potiskum in Yobe state North East Nigeria. The state commissioner of police, Patrick
Egbuniwe who confirmed the destruction said
the coordinated attack started around 8pm
through the night as five persons lost their
lives during the attack but hospital sources
claimed 16 corpses were brought to the hospital for claims by relations. The commissioner said the masts of Etisalat,
Globacom and Airtel in the two towns were
burnt by suspected armed hoodlums believed
to be members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect,
by launching Improvised Explosive Devices
(IEDs) and petrol-bombs at the masts. He said that seven masts were destroyed in
Damaturu while Potiskum loss Five. Mr Egbuniwe said the attackers also razed
down the offices of Yobe state Ministry of
Religious Affairs, the state Pilgrims Welfare
Board, Hajj Camp, Local Government INEC
Office and most of the structures at the
Government Secondary School Damaturu believe to be the most populated public school
in the state capital. He said one of the Fire fighting vehicles of the
state fire service was also burnt by the
assailants. Four arrested The Joint Taskforce (JTF) in the state
confirmed that four suspects have been
arrested and are being interrogated in
connection with the recent attacks. The suspects according to the JTF were
arrested along Gujba road in an attempt to
lunch another attack on a mast along the
road. The coordinated destruction of
telecommunication facilities is the first to be
carried out in the state since the
commencement of the insurgency. Thursday’s vandalisation disrupted smooth
communication within and outside the state
capital as the only surviving network the MTN
was erratic throughout the day.
www.channelstv.com/home/2012/09/06/gunmen-bomb-more-telecom-masts-kill-16-in-yobe/

God! why this barbaric?
Burning of telecom mast as if they will not need it again.

it seems they really want to start ww111?

these guys are f%$#!ktards.do they know they are putting the final death nail on their economy?

nawa for Naija

The Taliban are currently doing the same thing in Afghanistan. They claim that the masts are used to track their location and then to kill or apprehend them.


It is a strategy, these guys have burnt the bridge behind them and there is no going back. This is part of their evolution.


I think that if our security agencies can study the tactics of foreign Islamist terrorist groups and then combine this knowledge with intelligence on ground, they can be able to pre-empt and thereby prevent some of these attacks.

clearly,it will be foolhardy for any Nigerian to think that this current govt as currently constitued and with the present state of Nigeria,the profligacy of her political leadership and growing disenchantment against the GEJ govt by most Nigerians occassioned by the numerous ill-thought policies of GEJ's govt from oil subsidy removal,poor budget implementation,#1 billion appendicitis-causing feeding budget,#5000 red-herring etc.,any sensible Nigerian will die for Nigeria!!!

Even security officers currently have a low-morale,nobody will take joy in killing his/her people particularly if the security personnel is from that state,secondly,the security officers of southern extraction feels it is suicidal to ask them to go and face or arrest 'somebody who is ready to die' and some would rather influence their redeployment to safer southern states further making it less attractive for security personnel.Thirdly,most security personnel believe that it is the politicians that are behind the boko haram insurgence and they are fully convinced that it is the politicians that can solve the problem and the politicians are only using them as sacrificial lambs,they are not convinced that dying by the hands of boko haram is not what they signed for as the competing political interests are not doing so for patriotic reasons.

Lobatan ....north is going back to d dark age ...there greedy leaders cannot tame the monster they unleashed ...

I think its right time we divide dis country .. So we won't be tag along with these animals ..am tired of being called a terrorist by those that knew nothing about Nigeria

Terrorism: Telecoms firms threaten to cut off North
September 7, 2012 by Dayo Oketola 15 Comments
Terrorism, telecoms firms threaten to cut off North

Major providers of mobile telephony in the country have threatened to withdraw their services from the North.

They hinged their threat on the spate of attacks on base stations which has made them to lose a whopping N1.03bn.

The umbrella body of the telecoms operators, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, on Thursday said its members were losing too much to the development and may close shop if it became too dangerous to operate in the region.

The major GSM providers – MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat – are all members of ALTON.

Gunmen, also on Thursday reportedly bombed a base station belonging to an indigenous telecoms infrastructure company, IHS Nigeria, in Kano, barely 24 hours after the attack on several base stations in Borno, Yobe, Bauchi and Gombe states.

The Executive Director, Commercial and Business Development, IHS, Mr. Gbenga Onakomaiya, who confirmed the development to our correspondent on Thursday, said one of the company’s base stations was bombed in Borno on Wednesday while another one was bombed in Kano on Thursday morning.

Officials of ALTON put the number of base stations that had been attacked in the north at 26.

President of ALTON, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, who decried the situation, said “If it becomes impossible to continue to do business in the face of rising attacks on telecoms sites, operators will naturally suspend operations in the area.

“This is because beyond base stations, these elements may begin to target telecoms operators‘ offices and data centres among other key infrastructure. That is why it is important that the situation is curtailed before it gets to that point.

“During military coups, dissidents attack newspaper and television houses as well as telecommunications centres and infrastructure to destabilise the government. This is not different from what we are experiencing now as people’s phones can’t be reached in the affected areas.”

The ALTON president said an emergency meeting of the association’s executives had been called for today (Friday) to decide on what next to do.

A Chief Executive Officer of one of the GSM companies, who asked not to be named, said though the company was not contemplating suspending its operations as of now, it could be forced to do so if the situation persisted.

“We are not contemplating the withdrawal of services as of today but if the situation continues like this in the next four to five days, we may have to withdraw service. But we are not contemplating that now,” he said.

Telecoms infrastructure analysts in the country have put the average cost of a base station at $250,000, which amounts to N39.47m at an exchange rate of N157.91 to a dollar as at Thursday.

With 26 base stations already destroyed, an investment of N1.03bn might have gone down the drain.

Contrary to the belief that only MTN, Airtel and Glo were affected, the Executive Secretary, ALTON, Mr. Gbolahan Awonuga, said the attack affected all telecoms operators, including Multilinks and Helios Tower.

When contacted, an official of Helios Tower, said that about three of the company’s base stations were also affected.

He confirmed the report that services had been disrupted in the affected areas as engineers had been finding it difficult to give adequate reports of the situation because they couldn’t be reached.

Onokomaiya, who attested to the seriousness of the situation, said, “One of our base stations was bombed in Borno on Wednesday and another was bombed in Kano this morning (Thursday). The base station was completely burnt out. The generators, shelter and equipment are gone. The only things remaining now are the towers and we have to assess them to ascertain their integrity.”

A formal report sent by Multilinks to ALTON, which was made available to our correspondent, confimed that Multilinks base stations located at Mainok Village, Borno and another one at Abari Village in Damaturu, were damaged.

The report said, “Reports obtained from our personnel indicate that extremists numbering about 40 stormed the area at about 22:20 Hrs on 05/09/2012 and immediately launched an attack on the MTN cell site. After the attack on MTN cell site, the extremists proceeded to our site which is close to the MTN site to launch a similar attack.

“As at this (Thursday) morning, the extent of damage done to the site is yet to be ascertained as contact with the security men is yet to be established after the attack.

“ Also our Abari site in Damaturu which is not on air was reportedly attacked also. Details remain sketchy as those resident in the area were all indoors.”

Stakeholders urged the Federal Government to wade into the issue to ensure that the safety of lives of operators’ personnel and agents was assured.

Key stakeholders had called on the Federal Government to bestow on ICT infrastructure a Critical National Security Infrastructure pending the time appropriate laws would be enacted to strengthen it.

“The time has come for the passing into law of the National Security Bill pending in the National Assembly which must be made all-embracing by giving telecoms industry a critical mention in the bill,” a former Executive Vice- Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Mr. Ernest Ndukwe, said.

http://www.punchng.com/news/terrorism-telecoms-firms-threaten-to-cut-off-north/

so which masts werent attacked?

after all, they have to communicate somehow.

Islamic Republic of Arewastan

God help us.

Pandora's Box has been opened, and Northern Nigeria is fast heading to the point of no return.
Whatever lame rhetoric the governors of these states are spouting will not solve their problems. They keep wringing their hands and pointing fingers at phantom enemies while their states gradually but surely slip into irredeemable anarchy.