Boko Haram uses cows for bombings

Security agents have uncovered a new strategy by Boko Haram to launch terror attacks as the insurgents have now resorted to the use of cows for bombings. The Federal Government yesterday said with this new strategy, Boko Haram strapped bombs to cows and herded the cows to human settlements before detonating the explosives. However, the Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, who doubles as the Coordinator of the National Information Centre (NIC),who disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja, did not give details on where the insurgents had employed this terror tactic.


Omeri also spoke on Monday’s attack on Damaturu by the insurgents, who launched another attack on Ashaka and Bajoga, in Gombe yesterday, raiding banks and bombing government buildings, including a police station. According to him, normalcy has since returned to Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, and Konduga in Borno State, which the insurgents attacked on Monday.

He said: “The situation in Yobe and Maiduguri is calm… The situation has returned to normal. “Like Maiduguri, the insurgents have resorted to other means of invading society, and that is why they now use bombs; they strap bombs around human beings.

“Sometimes, they strap bombs around cows, and push them to settlements. “That is why we have been calling for more vigilance and total collaboration and cooperation among citizens. “We urge all citizens to be patient, when you are subjected to searches and checks; it is something that we have to live with.

“It happens all over the world, especially when we are faced with what we have.” On the Federal Government’s renewed alliance with Russia, in a bid to buy arms after the United States, its traditional arms supplier had frustrated efforts to acquire certain categories of arms, Omeri said: “Nigeria buys arms from all over the world and we have been buying arms from the Eastern bloc for a long time.

“The AK-47 is from there. So, it is not a new thing to be turned into a story.” Meanwhile, Boko Haram militants yesterday stormed Ashaka and Bajoga in Gombe State, raiding banks and burning government buildings as well as political party offices. In Bajoga, the terrorists raided banks and set fire to a police station, government buildings and political party offices. In Ashaka, pick-up trucks and medical supplies were stolen. Lafarge, a French-owned cement company, is located in Ashaka.
A pastor, who craved anonymity, told New Telegraph that there was bombardment from the terrorists until the military and other security agents repelled the attack. A resident said the gunmen, who dressed in military uniforms, came into Ashaka in a convoy of 20 vehicles at 7a.m.

“The gunmen kept shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is great) and firing guns haphazardly. They went into the cement factory and took away some vehicles,” Samaila Adnan, an Ashaka resident, said. “They didn’t touch anyone.” A staff member at the cement company, who asked not to be identified, confirmed Adnan’s account and said the factory was evacuated before the attack. “Our fear was confirmed.

They went into the factory and headed to the administrative building where company vehicles were parked. “They took away several Hilux (four-wheel drive) vans. They also went to the factory clinic and took away an ambulance along with drugs.

They didn’t harm anybody,” he said The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of Gombe Command, Mr. A. Atajiri, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the attacks. He said a combined team of security agents was able to repel the attacks. Atajiri could, however, not confirm the causality figure.