http://tribune.com.ng/sun/news/5521-yobe-over-70-police-officers-feared-killed-in-boko-haram-attacks
Written by James Bwala, Damaturu Sunday, 06 November 2011

Residents of Damaturu, Yobe State capital, are still in shock two days after multiple bomb blast hit the town simoulteneously resulting into the death of many people. Witnesses in Damaturu told Sunday Tribune that the attack hit several targets including churches and the headquatters of the Yobe State Police Command.

The Islamist group, Boko Haram, meanwhile, once again claimed responsibility for the attack, promising to hit further target.

A police source, who spoke to Sunday Tribune on phone simply, said,”it was devastating and we are still picking corpses.”

According to him, the death toll cannot be easily ascertained but it was on the high. “These people came to us and sincerely they have overwhelmed us to the extent that we have no option than to take to our heels.”

A civil servant in Yobe State, Mallam Kalamu Ibrahim, who spoke with Sunday Tribune said , “We heard that more than 70 police officers were killed and as I am talking to you I cannot get to my house since I left Maiduguri around 5:00 pm. There were gun shots everywhere, it is like the policemen were confused and they shut at all directions.”

He said his wife informed him that his family members were okay but that he should not try to enter Damaturu because they were told that Boko Haram members numbering about three hundred had unleashed terror on the city.

Another man from Potiskum told Sunday Tribune that, “We don’t know what is happening at the moment but we are hearing blasts from all side as I am talking to you now.

“ Some of our people in Damaturu said that trouble started at about 5.30 pm when six bombs went off in different parts of the town, the main targets being the 360 Housing Estate, the anti-terrorism squad office and the police headquarters and churches as well as mosque. We also learnt that St Mary’s Catholic Church and five other churches were burnt by the Boko Haram fighters”

It would be recalled that before the attack, Yobe State Commissioner of Police, Suleimon Lawal had said there was no sign of the dreaded Boko Haram members in the state, when he was reacting to the killing of a Police Constable, Adamu Ali in the state capital by unknown gunmen.

He said: “We are not fighting Boko Haram in Damaturu. We are fighting hardened criminals. You don’t hear me talk of Boko Haram because I don’t think I have Boko Haram here. ”

Sunday Tribune, however, could not get the police commissioner on phone as at the time of filing this report to confirm the number of death.