Two female police officers were abducted by fleeing Boko Haram fighters in Dikwa town, Borno State, on Friday.
The insurgents also killed two soldiers in a gun battle that ensued as men of the Nigerian Army repelled attack on the local government headquarters.
According to sources, the insurgents stormed the town around 5:30pm and operated for over four hours before leaving around 9:00pm.
“They killed two soldiers and abducted two women police. Six IDPs were also injured in the attack. The Insurgents took away one police van and also burst the tire of the civilian JTF van,” a civilian JTF source disclosed.
A displaced person living in the IDP camp in Dikwa said while the attack was going on, the petrified camp residents holed up in their tents. He stated, “We were in our tents in the camp and were hearing shootings from a distance and we knew those gunshots could not be from the army so we did not go out to know how deadly the attack was.”
A humanitarian worker in Dikwa while narrating the incident disclosed that the attackers who came on foot were pursued by troops.
He said, “When they came into the town on foot, they started shooting sporadically. We all took to our heels. From the way they attacked, it was obvious they were on the run because the army has been clearing them in Sambisa Forest and you know Dikwa is in close proximity to the forest.”
“I cannot tell the number of casualties because I ran for safety and I have not heard anything about the casualty figures but they didn’t target any particular place for destruction,” the worker noted. – Punch.
