Boko Haram’s Attempt to Seize Army Barracks in Maiduguri Fails

By Michael Olugbode

Gunshots were heard in Maiduguri in the early hours of Tuesday as insurgents’ audacious attempt to seize an Army barracks in the town.

The insurgents in an attempt to seize the 333 Artillery Barracks of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri met their match in the soldiers with an ensuing fire exchanges lasting over an hour.

The firing which started from around 11.20pm on Monday lasted till around 1 am on Tuesday.

The intensity of the gunshots made many believe that Maiduguri was being overrun by the insurgents as the sound of gunshots was heard in almost all part of the town, rudely awakening sleepers.

It was later gathered from security sources that the insurgents had wanted to penetrate the 333 Artillery Barracks on the outskirts of Maiduguri, few kilometres to the Nigerian Air Force Base, which is key to the ongoing war against insurgency in the North East.

Sources revealed that the insurgents who had come through Gambori village behind the Army barracks had positioned themselves around the facility.

They shot mortals into the barracks and they were replied with equally devastating shots by the soldiers.

The insurgents were equally bombarded from the air by warplane deployed from the nearby NAF base.

The attack made villagers around the barrack run into the bush believing that their villages may have come under siege.

The sound of the firepower however went quiet at about 1am on Tuesday when the insurgents were believed to have fled, though the number of casualties could not yet be ascertained as at the time of filing this report.

Confirmation of the attack from the military authorities is still being awaited, as early calls to the spokesmen of the Army both in Borno and Abuja were not going through.