By Sadiq Abubakar
Maiduguri
Suspected members of Boko Haram in what looks like a reprisal attack on Monday set Kukawa Divisional Police Headquarters building in Borno state on fire and burnt several vehicles on market day.
Last week, six policemen on duty at checkpoints along the major road linking Kukawa and Baga, which is a few kilometers to the market, opened fire on gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram killing or injuring the suspects.
On a reprisal mission, the gunmen returned to Kukawa town’s Monday Market and attacked the same policemen that opened fire on them last week, killing two, kidnapping two others, while another two policemen on duty managed to escape.
The insurgents, numbering 30, according to an eyewitness who does not want his name in print, said they overpowered the six policemen on duty post and moved straight to the Divisional Police Headquarters and set it ablaze.
“As villagers heard of gunshots and attack on the police station by the Boko Haram insurgents, everybody started running away into the bush.”
Caretaker chairman of Kukawa local government area, Alhaji Modu Musa, and police authorities have confirmed the attack. They assured that calm had returned to the town and normalcy was gradually returning as security operatives had been deployed to the area.
The phone of the PPRO, Gideon Jubrin, and that of Kukawa LG caretaker chairman, Modu Musa, were switched off when contacted as at the time of filing in this report.
