A fierce gun battle and house-tohouse search jointly conducted by the military, the police and the State Security Service, SSS, in Adamawa State has led to the killing of a terrorist and the arrest of about 156 suspects.
This is even as the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, the Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda, and the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, yesterday condemned Sunday’s suicide bomb attack on St. John’s Catholic Church, Bauchi, which claimed three lives and injured 46 others.
The raid in Mubi, also led to the recovery of weapons, including Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, chemicals, over 500 knives, nineAK47 assault rifles, locally-made pistols and rocket launchers.
The Brigade Commander, 23rd Armoured Brigade, Yola, Brig.-Gen. John Nwaoga, briefing newsmen yesterday in Mubi, said the house-tohouse search followed the recent upsurge in killings and attacks on communications’ masts in the border town.
The destruction of the telecoms firms’ facilities forced the intelligent unit of the security operatives to swing into action, leading to the identification of some hideouts of the terrorists.
Nwaoga in company of the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Godfrey Okeke, and the Director of SSS, Mr. Jaye Oba, said the raid had helped the military intelligence to unravel the mystery behind the protracted wave of shootings and bomb attacks in Mubi, a border town with Borno State.
“Based on intelligence report, a combine team of the JTF isolated the area, cordoned it and make sure that innocent and law-abiding citizens were not hurt during the operation,” Nwoaga said.
He confirmed that one of the suspects, who engaged the security agents in a shoot-out, was killed.
He said: “One of the members of the notorious gang was gunned down as they engaged our men in a gun duel before we were able to overpower them.”
The Army boss added that those arrested would be screened and people found to be innocent would be released.
Nwaoga said while the operation continues, security forces would expedite action to ensure that it was completed on time to enable residents of the town resume normal activities.
The brigade commander called on traditional rulers, village heads and residents to report to security agents unidentified persons residing in their midst.
He thanked the state government for granting a 24-hour curfew, which enabled the JTF to carry out the operation successfully.
The arrested suspects, including six females and five children who were rescued, have being kept at the military base in Mubi.
In Bauchi, the state Deputy Governor, Alhaji Sagir Saleh and the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Suleman Adamu, visited St. John’s Catholic Church, the scene of Sunday’s suicide bombing, which killed three persons.
They sympathised with the Christian faithful in the state with a charge on people to live in peace, even as they condemned the attack.
The deputy governor expressed dismay and described the blast as a calculated attempt to smear the good image of the Yuguda administration.
He called on the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, to prevail on its members to embrace peace and unity, noting that “religious tolerance is the only option to ensure sustainable development.”
CAN Chairman in the state, Rev. Lawi Pokti, said an 11-year-old girl later died in the hospital following the injuries she suffered from the bomb blast.
He, however, added that other victims were responding to treatment at the Abubakar Tafawa- Balewa University Teaching Hospital.
Pokti lamented that Christians were the targets of recent attacks in the state and urged government and security agencies to be vigilant in stopping the trend.
National Mirror learnt that two policemen who were at the gate of the church as at the time of the blast were among those seriously affected and were now receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital.
The state government also issued a statement yesterday condemning the suicide attack.
The condemnation was contained in a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Ishola Michael.
The statement said the state government condoled with the families of the victims and promised to track down the perpetrators of the heinous crime.
“There is no way we will allow criminals and terrorists to continue to live among us and keep on terrorising innocent people even in their places of worship,” the statement said.
It pleaded for calm and appealed to friends and families of the victims not to do anything that would aggravate the already tensed situation to preserve law and order in the state.
“Let us allow security operatives to do their work; we should please avoid anything that will lead to the loss of more lives and disrupt the peace that we are enjoying in the state,” it added.
The ACF, in an electronic mail signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Anthony Sani, called on terrorists to lay down their arms and embrace peace and dialogue.
The ACF said: “The Arewa Consultative Forum is shocked by the news of yet another suicide bombing of a Catholic Church in Bauchi yesterday morning (Sunday), which claimed about four lives and wounded about 40 others.
“More troubling is the fact that this has taken place despite appeals by many Nigerians to perpetrators of such dastardly violence to lay down their arms and embrace the offer of dialogue by the Federal Government.
“The only viable approach to addressing any perceived grievances that can bring about peaceful coexistence and national security needed for systematic socio-economic development of the country, particularly the northern parts of the country is dialogue.
“The heart of the forum goes to the families of those who lost their loved ones, and pleads with them to leave vengeance to God, who is capable of fighting His cause, yet has enjoined human beings to melt the hearts of persecutors with love.
“May God grant those left behind, the fortitude to endure what has taken place.”
Moro described the attack as cowardly. He assured Nigerians that security agencies would ensure that the perpetrators and their sponsors were brought to book.
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, George Udoh, the minister said: “The attack on defenceless Christian faithful on Sunday of all days, when Christians went out to worship their God.
He said that the action must be condemned by all peace-loving people, who value human life and civilised conduct adding that it was a major threat to peaceful co-existence of people of different religious callings in the country.
“It is an act of savagery of the most unfathomable nature, to maim and kill worshippers on a day which is globally recognised, as one in which neighbours should extend their hands of fellowship to believers and non-believers in their faith; such an act is even unacceptable on any day anywhere in any civilised society the world over.”