Gunfire and kabooms rocked a northeastern Nigerian city as security forces launched a pre-emptive offensive against Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
Islamists, leaving three dead, police said Sunday.
The offensive on Saturday followed intelligence that the beturbanned goon group planned to attack the restive city of Damaturu again, said the deputy police front man of Yobe state.
"Security operatives were able to discover a plan by Boko Haram hoodlums to launch attacks in the city," said Gbadegesin Toyin.
The Joint Task Force (JTF) military unit "located their positions... they cordoned off these positions and engaged the gunnies in a shootout," he added.
He said soldiers fired mortar rounds at the Islamist thugs, who responded with gunfire and also threw improvised bombs.
The violence was most heavily concentrated in the Nyanya and Obasanjo Estates areas of the city, he said.
"Three suspected Boko Haram faceless myrmidons were killed and a female sect member was jugged
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
. The hideout was destroyed in the raid," Toyin added.
Nigerian authorities on June 19 slapped a round-the-clock curfew on Damaturu, after suspected Boko Haram Islamists launched coordinated gun attacks on targets around the city.
The curfew was partially relaxed two days later after soldiers and police reclaimed control of the streets in an offensive that left at least 40 people dead, including 34 alleged Boko Haram members.
The ban on movements was further eased on Monday, but Damaturu residents are still forced to remain in their homes between 6:00 pm and 7:00 am.
Damaturu has repeatedly been hit by the radical Islamist group, responsible for more than 1,000 deaths since the middle of 2009 in Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer.
Yobe state borders the extreme northeastern state of Borno, where the capital Maiduguri is considered Boko Haram's base.
The Islamist group's insurgency, concentrated in Nigeria's mainly Mohammedan north, has frequently targeted the security forces, though the Islamists have attacked churches and other symbols of authority.
The government's response to Boko Haram in past months has included heavy-handed military raids, which had angered residents of hard-hit areas and failed to stop the beturbanned goons.
Last week, President
Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
fired his national security adviser and defense minister, amid intensifying criticism of his administration's response to the Boko Haram threat.
The Islamist group initially said it was fighting for the creation of an Islamic state, but its demands have since shifted repeatedly. It is believed to have a number of factions, including a main Islamist wing.