In what appeared to be a major victory against the Boko Haram sect, the Joint Military Task Force confirmed, yesterday, that the sect’s spokesman, Abu Qaqa, has been killed, while two other members were arrested after a shootout between the sect and security operatives. There were, however, different accounts on how the encounter took place.

According to one account, quoting an official of the task force, the shooting occurred yesterday morning in Mariri, a town southeast of Kano, where soldiers stopped a vehicle with the sect spokesman, the commander, the spokesman’s wife and their children, the official said. It was not clear what happened next, though the official said soldiers shot dead both the commander and the spokesman. The wife and children remain in military custody.
The wife told soldiers the men had accompanied her to Kano as she sought medical help. The military official was said to have spoken on condition of anonymity as the information was not to be made public yesterday. Lt. Iweha Ikedichi, a military spokesman in the region, later told journalists that soldiers had only killed one man, the Boko Haram spokesman. However, the official who spoke to The Associated Press had been at the scene of the attack and offered further details about the scene.

A different account said a team of the Joint Military Task Force stormed the hideout of the sect in Hotoro area of Kano municipal where one of the commanders of the sect was killed, while two other members were arrested during the combat operation.

Vanguard was told that the military action followed intelligence report indicating the presence of high profile sect members, who had been on the wanted list of security agents in the area.

The source further revealed that the daylight operation involving several infantry and counter terrorism officers was swift and ended within half an hour.

The sources, however, refused to divulge the identity of the “top commander” killed during the operation and those taken into custody, pointing out that “what mattered at the moment is the success recorded during the military action”.

Residents were apprehensive when a military helicopter was seen hovering the skyline of the city indicating a major military operation.
JTF confirms operation

Confirming the arrest, JTF spokesman in the city, Lt. Ikediche Iweha told Vanguard on phone that “we carried out a raid this morning around Hotoro general area where we killed a member of a terrorist group and arrested two during the operation”

Lt Iweha, however failed to clarify the identity of the top commander killed and those arrested. He only said that “we don’t have their nominal roll and can not say who was killed and arrested but investigation would certainly reveal their identity.”

Meanwhile, Kano city and environ were generally calm after the operation as business activities resumed while there were increased activities in all the military check points in the city.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/09/boko-haram-top-shot-killed-jtf/