Nigeria JTF kills 14 Boko Haram terrorists in Kano

Operatives of the Joint Task Force on Sunday averted another major attack by terrorists in Kano by raiding their hideouts at  Unguwa Uku area of the ancient city.

The operatives, acting on a tip off,  were said to have raced to the area around 4am  and intercepted a Volkswagen Golf, primed with explosives, which  some terrorists had wanted to use and wreck havoc during the Easter celebration in the city.

Residents of the area said the soldiers thereafter invaded a compound housing the suspected terrorists but were greeted with explosions.They added that the operatives who were not deterred exchanged gunfire with the terrorists for about four hours.

The spokesperson of JTF in Kano, Ikedi Iweha, was quoted as saying that the task force killed 14 Boko Haram suspects in the raid.

  One of the residents said   it was unclear if most of the terrorists were killed by the Improvised Explosive Devices detonated by them or by the operatives.

He added that bodies were seen being  carried out of  one of the   buildings in the compound raided by the operatives while 14 AK 47 rifles, 10 peak milk-size  IEDs, four drums of 50- litre  primed explosives  and   51 other items  in small drums were recovered.

The houses were thereafter demolished while the corpses were taken to a morgue.

Security operatives said that one of the terrorists’ top commanders whose name was not given was later arrested.

The Brigade Commander 3 motorised Brigade, Bukavu Barracks, Kano, Brig.-Gen.Iliyasu Abba, confirmed the incident.

 “My men on search operations in the wee hours of this (Sunday) morning at Layin Yan’awaki, Ungwa –Uku general area   suddenly came   under fire from terrorists that triggered gunfire,” he said while conducting journalists round the scene.

 “It was an opportunity to demonstrate our superior fire power, and the gallant  officers and men gave a good account of themselves but unfortuanately we lost one of our soldiers and another one  was injured.”

As of 4pm on Sunday, the area was still cordoned off by security operatives.

  Many panic-stricken Christians could not summon courage to attend Easter  service in their churches  despite the  high  presence of security operatives in the metropolis

Churches like Our Lady of Fatima,   St Louis,    St Thomases, St Stephen’s, and St

Georges and Holy Trinity had low turnout of worshippers while those in   Hotoro, Mariri and Badawa areas did not open.

Before the raid,   JTF operatives and policemen   had been deployed in  strategic locations in the city.  Armoured Personnel Carriers were also seen patrolling the flash points.

In Jos, Plateau State middle belt Nigeria , the much-advertised   rally   to mark the end of the  Easter festivities did not hold  as  church leaders  advised their followers to go back to their homes and celebrate quietly.

Many of them had gathered in front of the headquarters of the Church Of Christ In Nigeria to begin the procession that would have terminated at the Rwang Pam Stadium when they were given the advice.

The rally, which was organised by the state branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria, was abandoned after the police warned against it.

There had been clashes in the suburbs of the  city , which had necessitated a high security alert.

However, in his Sunday Easter message at the Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, Archbishop of Jos, Most Rev. Ignatius  Kaigama, urged Christians not to see the end of the Lenten period as a time to go back to their old ways, but to continue to allow the spirit of   Christ to be in them.

He admonished them to imbibe the spirit of forgiveness, which the period signifies.

“All the trouble we have in Nigeria is because we have not allowed the spirit of Christ to take charge of our lives. Therefore, as we celebrate Easter, we should look up at that Cross of Calvary, where Christ hung more than 2,000 years ago and reflect on the essence of that sacrifice,” the cleric said.

Meanwhile, the   Commissioner of Police in the state,    Mr. Chris Olakpe,  has called on warring parties to shun hatred and to come  out  for genuine dialogue in order to  curb  the growing insecurity in the state.

Olakpe   stated this on Sunday in Jos when   Isoko people living in Jos hosted him.

Earlier,the President of Isoko Development Union    in  Plateau State, Mr. Ezekiel Udubrae,  had said the  Isoko  would  avail the commissioner  with any information that would  enable him succeed   in the state.