2 INSURGENTS FLEEING SAMBISA FOREST ARRESTED: CONFESSED

Two suspected Boko Haram gunmen arrested in Maiduguri , Borno State yesterday by youth vigilance group said they were forced to flee their Sambisa Forest camp following incessant snake bites, a development which they described as spiritual attack.

The two suspects, Kolo Mustapha and Umar Abor, were apprehended at Mairi ward, a sprawling community behind the University of Maiduguri campus, by members of the group, Civilian JTF. They confessed that they fled the forest with some of their co-fighters to nearer Local Governments areas in the state, following increasing snake bites.

“Most of us are fleeing because there are too many snakes now in the forest, once they bite, they disappeared and the victims do not last 24 hours. We were told that the people of Chibok local government are the ones turning into snakes and attacking us in the forest,” Musta­pha said.

He claimed they came into Maiduguri on Tuesday night and had attempted to hide in an uncompleted building in the area when they were sighted and apprehended by the Civilian JTF.

“We are pleading with them to spare our lives, we were forced into the sect, but we know that, it is not the right way. I personally have never killed anyone, but my friend (Abor) has killed people,” Mustapha said.

But Abor said that Mustapha was lying, not­ing that all of them have participated in killing of people at various times. “We have fought together since 2010, we have fought in Marte, Bama, Buni Yadima and Gwoza. We were not in Chibok, we have not seen the girls but we heard about it. Our leaders have been talking about it and we have been following all the news from the radio,” he disclosed.

Meanwhile, some soldiers may have died following an ambush on their base by Boko Haram along the volatile Damboa axis, south of Borno, sources said.

Some Boko Haram fighters were said to have launched a coordinated attack on the military post at Bulabulin Ngaura in Damboa Local Government, about 55 kilometres away from Maiduguri, Borno State capital. The attackers launched Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) into the base, causing massive destruction, the source revealed, adding that 16 soldiers may have died in the attack.