The Boko Haram gunmen launched a dawn raid on the hometown of Nigerian army chief, triggering a fierce gun battle with troops, residents of a nearby village to which people fled the clashes told AFP.
However, there was no immediate report of casualties in the fighting as at the time of filing this report.
Abubakar Umar, a resident of the nearby hamlet of Miringa, told AFP that the fighting began at 5:00 am after Boko Haram insurgents attacked the village.
“At one point we could hear explosions coming from the direction of Buratai,” he said.
Troops reinforcements from a military base in the town of Biu, 30 kilometres from Buratai, were seen passing through Miringa.
“Nine trucks conveying soldiers and another four carrying local hunters drove through our village towards Buratai and from what we hear more are on their way,” said Shitu Ayuba, another resident.
Some Buratai residents had fled to Miringa, where they took shelter in a primary school, locals said.
The dreaded Islamic sect had in August taken the bull by the horn by attacking Buratai’s village in Biu local government area, Borno state, killing many and destroying houses including that of a former Commissioner, Barrister Isa Buratai.
“I cannot say how many were killed in the raid by Boko Haram because we left the town while they were still on it. I saw corpses and I saw the house of our former commissioner, Isa Buratai on fire. I don’t know about the people in the house, but about two corpses were seen along the way apart from many others that we saw, ” a fleeing local, Audi Bukar, had told newsmen.
The first attack on Buratai’s village came just weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Buratai the new chief of army staff on July 13.
In a visit to Borno some months back, Boko Haram militants ambushed the convoy of the Nigeria chief of army staff Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai but were fought off by soldiers under his command.
The convoy was ambushed while travelling the unsafe Maiduguri-Gamboru-Ngala highway controlled until recently by Boko Haram militants.
One soldier was killed and another two wounded when the Boko Haram militants ambushed an advance team of troops moving ahead of the chief of army staff’s vehicle. However, soldiers led personally by Buratai returned fire, killing five Boko Haram members at the spot.
Residents believe the Boko Haram attacks are in response to recent military gains against the jihadists under Buratai.
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