Armed with hunting rifles that only permit them to shoot once before refilling the cartridges, members of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria killed eight better armed members of the Boko Haram in a village near Chibok town of Borno State, officials said.
A gang of gunmen believed to be members of the Boko Haram on Monday morning, at about 3 a.m. attacked Kwarangilam Village of Chibok Local Government Area, but had their mission aborted as members of the Vigilante Group laid ambush for them.
The gunmen who were taken unawares by the poorly armed vigilante members were confused by the turnout of event as the vigilante operatives picked on them one after the other until the terrorists lost eight of their gunmen, an official said.
Kwarangilam is a quiet agrarian village located about 15km from Chibok town.
The spokesperson of the Nigeria Vigilante Group, Muhammed Gava, told newsmen that one of the insurgents was also arrested alive.
“We have arrested one of them alive and have handed him over to the military personnel in Chibok town”, said Mr. Gava.
“It was a successful operation that we had in Chibok local government today Monday.
“The gunmen invaded Kwarangilam at about 3 a.m., but unknown to them, our men in the area were aware of the attack and had taken cover to wait for them. They started the attack by setting fire on houses, shops; and our men began to shoot from their hideouts, which the Boko Haram gunmen could not locate. They were so lucky to have gunned down eight of them. The gunmen became confused and decided to flee”.
The chairman of the vigilante group simply known as Mr. Tar said they could take on the Boko Haram insurgents if they were properly armed.
“We have said it time and again that we need better weapons; we need vehicles and other accessories that would make our jobs better; if we can get better arms, who is Boko Haram that would hold us to ransom all this while”, the Vigilante Commander said.
Thousands of people have been killed by the Boko Haram despite a state of emergency imposed on the state since May 2014.