The terrorists stormed the town at about 1.45am in Hilux vans and motorcycles which is believed by residents to be a reprisal attack.
Daily Trust gathered that the invaders were forced to take a retreat after a gun duel by the soldiers who were on guard.
A resident of the town, Sulaiman Khalil told our correspondent that the assailants parked their vehicles at the outskirt and sneaked into town on foots and motorcycles.
“Fortunately enough, the security forces were fully aware of their plan. They engaged them in serious gun battle that lasted for hours before the military thwarted their attack plan,” he said.
“But an old man was killed by the insurgents outside his thatch tent before they burnt down the shed; his neighbours said he was trying to escape when the militants saw him.”
A fleeing resident told Daily Trust that there were apprehensions of possible attack on the town the day before as “the boys (militants) were sighted at Sassawa Saturday afternoon.
We alerted security operatives but nothing was done.”
He said that the militants have burnt two patrol vehicles of policemen in the town but Daily Trust could not independently confirm it.
Although the police and the military are yet to comment on the attack, a top security officer told our correspondent that the military had launched an offensive against the insurgents and killed 11 of them last week few kilometers from Biriri town, which may have triggered the reprisal attack.
Babbangida is 50 km north of Damaturu, the state capital and had experienced several cases of Boko Haram invasion in the past.
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