The death toll occasioned by the attack on Damaturu, the Yobe State capital by Boko Haram insurgents on Monday has been put at over 220 by health workers and security sources in the state.
According to a report by Daily Trust, the dead included over 150 militants, six soldiers, and 33 policemen. The Yobe State police Spokesman, Nansel Chagwang, was also reportedly killed in the attack.
Residents of the Damaturu, the Yobe state capital stayed indoors yesterday because of a 24-hour curfew announced by the state government after soldiers repelled the militants in a bloody battle on Monday, while workers from the state Ministry of Environment, NEMA and the Red Cross picked up the bodies.
Residents around Gujba and Gashua roads, New Jerusalem, Nasarawa, GRA, the Damaturu major roundabout said corpses littered their areas.
Quoting a security source, the report says many civilians were also killed in the attack.
“Collation of the casualty figure is still on. Some militants and civilians died in the bush while fleeing. The state’s police spokesman, Nansel Chagwang, was among the officers killed”, he said.
Speaking further, the source said the insurgents who survived the heavy bombardment from the military loaded the bodies of their dead colleagues into four Hilux vans and went away with them.
A resident of Damaturu, Mohammed Ali confirmed that over 10 insurgents, who were trapped in the town, were later captured by residents. He said two of the insurgents were set ablaze by angry residents while the remaining eight were handed over to security agents.
Other residents said some militants were burnt beyond recognition so it would be difficult to know their exact casualty figure.
Sources also added that the overwhelmed militants abandoned more than 10 vehicles with Arabic inscriptions at different locations of the town. Three Hilux vans belonging to the army, the vigilante and the police were burnt close to Yobe State University gate.
The insurgents were said to have snatched five vehicles belonging to the University and burnt the Administrative block, while over 10 Hilux vans used by them were destroyed but they reportedly managed to snatch cars from the INEC premises and the state university to flee.
Recounting the loses at the MOPOL 41 base along Gujba Road, a mobile policeman said over 30 cars and official vehicles were burnt at the base. Structures at the base according to the source were also torched.
Reports say security operatives and volunteers yesterday continued the arrest of some militants trapped in various locations, an effort witnesses said had been fruitful. All streets of the state capital remained deserted yesterday except for movement of security forces. There were 13 corpses of mobile policemen, 40 bodies of insurgents and those of two civilians taken to the morgue.
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