BEVERLY HILLS, November 05, (THEWILL) – Rampaging Boko Haram gunmen stormed the Ashaka Cement factory in Gombe, Tuesday, looting the store of the company and made away with eight trucks loaded with dynamites.
Local sources in Gombe, who disclosed this Wednesday to THEWILL, said the cement factory was raided when the insurgents launched attacks on the town and other towns bordering Yobe and Gombe States with scores of residents killed in both Nafada in Gombe State and Fika in Yobe State.
“The group came here without killing anybody but they went away with eight Toyota Hilux belonging to Ashaka Cement Plc. which they fully loaded with dynamites taken from the production site of the company after preaching their ways (doctrine) to the residents they assembled in one place,” a local resident told THEWILL.
A security operative, craving anonymity, also told THEWILL Wednesday that seven travellers along the Gombe-Potiskum highway were killed around Fika town.
The source added that the killing came a few moments after a popular Islamic cleric and three of his students were killed in Nafada on the Gombe/Yobe border.
Confirming the attacks by the insurgents, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) , Mr. Fwaje Atajiri, said the terrorists also torched the police station as well as the Local Government and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secretariats in Nafada.
He however said the attempt by the insurgents to enter Bajoga, the headquarters of Funakaye Local Government Area, was repelled by security operatives.
Atajiri also said that the State Police Command was not aware of the looting of dynamites from Ashaka Cement factory by the insurgents though he said investigation into the allegation had commenced.
He also confirmed that a cleric and three others were killed in Nafada while a policeman, who was injured during the raid is currently receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital in the state.
“I can confirm to you of the attack on the two Local Government Areas of the state with casualty figure put at four while a policeman was injured during the attack and is been treated. Our team of investigators have commenced inquiry on the attack and I can assure you the media will be adequately briefed as things unfold,” Atajiri told THEWILL.
