Nigeria - Bomb Explosions Rock Bauchi State, 3 Killed

Explosion by Boko Haram Sect.

Three persons, including a mobile police officer and a police sergeant, were reportedly killed in separate attacks as suspected gunmen opened fire on a Divisional Police Headquarters and bombed a new generation bank, carting away large sums of money in Yana town of Misau Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

A team of army personnel was said to have later killed one of the gunmen in an exchange of fire at a check point along Azare highway. The attack came barely four days after a bomb explosion at a hotel in Bayan Gari in Bauchi metropolis injured four persons.

This is as a retired director of State Security Service, Mr Adams Abuh, gave reasons why, compared with the ease with which the first Islamic fundamentalist group , Maitatsine ,was eradicated in the 1980's, it was proving so difficult to annihilate Boko Haram. He also faulted the pardon granted the Niger Delta militants and called for a general amnesty for anyone with arms to encourage them to turn them in.

Reports indicate that the gunmen in Bauchi, whose numbers could not be ascertained immediately, were said to have attacked the Divisional Police Headquarters and set it ablaze before hurling explosives at the bank, damaging the building. 

The State Commissioner of Police, Mallam Mohammed Ladan, who confirmed the incident on phone said he was yet to ascertain the level of damage.

Meanwhile, a retired SSS director, Abuh, Saturday in Abuja attributed the toughness of the battle to end the menace of Boko Haram to the radicalisation of members of the sect and their strategy of operating in cells instead of large groups. He also called for a general amnesty for anyone with arms to encourage them to turn them in.

"The Federal Government should amend the Amnesty programme to national amnesty for everybody with arms to surrender them," he said. "Meanwhile, our security men should use the opportunity to get information on all people with arms and begin to locate them and recover them because there are arms everywhere other than the Niger Delta."

According to him, the Boko Haram operated in such a way that they were far-flung and most of the members could not identify the other belligerents. Consequently, he pointed out, even if 100 members were arrested at a time,  they might not be able to reveal the identities or whereabouts of the others, especially the leaders, because they really did not know them.

Furthermore, he said even when they knew, they still wouldn't betray the other members because they were probably blood relations or old school mates or shared some other bond that precluded them from giving their identities or locations to security forces.

"It is difficult to annihilate Boko Haram because of the structure compared to Maitatsine because Boko Haram operates in cells or units," he said. "Each can do its own training, provide its arms and ammunition and they operate from various villages and towns. Those operating in one place don't know each other; only the leaders know themselves."

Besides, Abuh added that many of the members of the vicious Islamic sect were already wealthy and  sophisticated and  so, their strong commitment to the cause of the group was as a result of their radical beliefs.

Another factor he identified as being responsible for the slow progress being made by the security forces which, he said, was making it look as if they were not working was the ubiquity of improvised explosive devices.

News Source: Thisday