Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram insurgents attacked Gambouru border town and Garubula village in Biu Local Council and killed the District Head, Ibrahim Dawi, 14 villagers and a palace guard, while he was attempting to flee for safety on Wednesday night.

The Gambouru attacks, according to an eyewitness, Grema Modu, occurred when six gunmen on motorcycles forcefully dragged two vigilante youths from Gambouru town to the river side, with hands tied to their backs and slit their throats.

“We were shocked this morning, when youth volunteer discovered bodies of their two colleagues at the river side with their throats slit with bruises on their limbs, before the bodies were buried by noon,” said Modu.

He said after burying the bodies, one of the relations of the slain vigilante youth discovered two other bodies of Gambouru residents, who were killed on the Gambouru-Maiduguri road on Wednesday, while returning from a business trip.

“Relations of the traders informed the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) in Gambouru that the insurgents ambushed the vehicle they were travelling from Maiduguri to the border town by 2.35pm Wednesday, and killed two relations of our members, who were slain at the River side last night,” said Modu.

Senator Ahmed Zannah, representing Borno Central Senatorial District, yesterday confirmed the Gambouru border attacks in a telephone interview. He said that the vigilante youths were killed by insurgents because they were not allowed to carry arms in fight against Boko Haram gunmen that incessantly attack border towns and villages.

In Garubula village, Mallam Idrisa, a resident said the gunmen burst into the village at about 11pm and opened fire indiscriminately killing the District Head; along with 11 others, which include his bodyguard before they fled.

“Our District Head was shot by the gunmen on the head. He was however, rushed to Biu General Hospital before he gave up the ghost,” Idrisa said, adding that the traditional ruler has been buried according to Islamic rites.

On whether there was security before the attacks, he said: “The Federal Government should urgently do something before terrorists’ take over this village. The insurgents have succeeded in chasing our people to Damboa and other communities of Madafuma, Mandaragirau in Biu Council Area, and if something is not done urgently, they would sack our communities, which is the food basket of Borno State.”

Efforts to get the spokesman of the Borno State Police Command, DSP Gideon Jibrin, for confirmation proved abortive, as his phone was switched off as at the time of filling in this report.

A military source in Maiduguri, however, said there was an attack in Gambouru town, where many people were feared killed, while the Biu area attacks on a traditional ruler, also claimed the lives of 11 villagers.

Meanwhile, facts have emerged on why Boko Haram is desperate to kill prominent Islamic scholar and preacher, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, who narrowly escaped death Wednesday in a suicide bomb attack in Kaduna.

Sources at his Asikolaiye residence, by Nnamdi Azikiwe Way, recounted Sheikh Bauchi’s ordeal, lamenting that “this is the third time the insurgents had attempted to eliminate him.”

According to the source, “the problem of the Sheikh began when he engaged in preaching against the activities of the insurgents and calling on them to lay down their arms and dialogue with the government.

“They also believe that the sheikh was also in support of the faction of Boko Haram that is altogether trying to dialogue with the authorities and that government was in control of that faction.

“Just last week, Sheikh Bauchi was also said to have had Ramadan breakfast with President Goodluck Jonathan in Aso Rock and this situation may not have gone down well with the insurgents, knowing that he commands a lot of supporters among the Tijjaniyya and Derika disciples.”

Before Wednesday’s bomb attack against Bauchi’s convoy, the Islamic scholar’s home in Bauchi was attacked, while just about three weeks ago, a bomb was detonated near his Asikolaye residence in Kaduna.

•Based on separate reports in The Guardian. Photo shows Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, who is being hunted by Boko Haram.

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