[Nigerian Tribune] RESIDENTS of Bama town in Bama Local Government Area of Borno State, where 55 persons were killed, including 22 coppers and 14 prison officials, have said most of the gunnies they saw were Nigeriens and Cameroonians, while local almajiris showed them the places they attacked.A resident, Mallam Kolomi Bama, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune in Maiduguri, the state capital, said the gunnies burnt down police barracks where a newly married woman and three children were burnt.
Also burnt were several cars and cycle of violences, domestic animals.
Four blocks in the Bama mobile police unit were razed, while at least 10 people, seven coppers and three 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...
members were also killed.
According to him, the gunnies also attempted to attack the military barracks in Bama, but met a brick wall, as the soldiers reportedly repelled the attackers, killing 10 of the gunnies who dressed in military uniforms and recovered several AK-47 rifles, bomb making devices, assorted ammunition and gallons of concoctions said to have contained intoxicating substances.
Another eyewitness, a student of the University of Maiduguri, Amina Usman, told the Nigerian Tribune that the gunnies came in their hundreds, in buses and about 16 Hilux vehicles with guns mounted on some of the vehicles, while they attacked various formations of security operatives and government buildings.
She said the gunnies opened fire on the mobile police base, as they were trapped by the curfew imposed on the town, stressing that the gunnies were mostly foreign nationals guided by the those who understood the terrain.
Speaking to newsmen at the JTF headquarters, shortly after inspecting the affected areas, the JTF front man, Lieutenant-Colonel Sagir Musa, said the gunnies usually wear military uniforms during their operations, a reason, he said, civilians always blame soldiers for any attack.
When he visited the scene of the incident on Wednesday, the Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, expressed sadness with the level of destruction.
He thanked the security operatives for ensuring the return of normality in the town, while he charged the people of the state to guard against violence and wanton deatruction of lives and properties.