Nigeria’s army on Monday said it had foiled a planned Boko Haram
attack on the northeastern city of Maiduguri using powerful assault
rifles and home-made bombs.
Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said
in a statement that “nine terrorists sneaked into Maiduguri armed with
AK-47 assault rifles and (a) Hilux vehicle laden with 20 improvised
explosive devices”.
The IEDs were “meant to be detonated at some selected targets in the city”, he added.
Maiduguri,
the capital of Borno state, was where Boko Haram was founded in 2002
and has been repeatedly targeted during the Islamist militants’ bloody,
six-year insurgency.
At least 265 people have been killed in a
wave of suicide and bomb attacks in the city since President Muhammadu
Buhari came to power on May 29, vowing the crush the militants.
On September 20, at least 117 were killed in a single attack.
Usman
did not elaborate in the statement about potential targets and refused
to comment further when contacted by AFP to ask whether the nine had
been arrested.
But he added: “We will let you know at the conclusion (of a preliminary investigation) what exactly they wanted to do.”
Boko
Haram, which is allied to the so-called Islamic State group in Syria
and Iraq, wants to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.
At
least 17,000 people have been killed since 2009 and 2.6 million forced
from them homes in violence that has increasingly hit Nigeria’s
neighbours Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Nigeria’s army has in recent
months claimed a series of successes against Boko Haram, pushing them
out of captured territory, destroying camps and rescuing hundreds of
people held captive.
It has also claimed the arrest of a number of wanted suspects.
On Monday, the army said it had “discovered and destroyed” an IED and
rocket-making factory near the town of Bama, 72 kilometres (45 miles)
southeast of Maiduguri by road.
Items recovered included gas
cylinders, pipes, poles and welding equipment plus locally made rocket
shells, unprimed IEDs and chemicals.
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