Billy Graham Abel Yola

Monday’s attack on Michika town by suspected Boko Haram insurgents ahead of Saturday’s Adamawa supplementary elections claimed five residents, police have said.

Eyewitnesses said the attackers came in 10 vans and motorcycles. Police on Tuesday clarified that the insurgents might have been on a mission to steal.

The Adamawa State police command confirmed that five residents of Michika were killed in the foiled Boko Haram attack.

The police command said that the insurgents merely raided a bank in town on Monday night.

According to the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Othman Abubakar, the insurgents who initially sneaked into Michika unchallenged were however overpowered by men of the Nigerian Army who repelled them, killing 11 of the attackers in the process.

Giving an update on the attack on Tuesday afternoon he said: “Five people died when the bandits attacked Union Bank. The place was badly destroyed but they were unable to gain access into the bank’s strong room; they could not penetrate.

He explained that: “The insurgents were on a sole mission of carting away money.

“Their motive must have been to go and get money, and it probably explained why they went directly to hit the bank.

“I was made to understand that money was moved into the bank earlier that day.

“They must have monitored the bank and went there purposely for the money.

“The insurgents were however unable to get to the money, especially as soldiers and other security agents stormed the place and succeeded in forcing them to flee, abandoning the cars and motorcycles.

“The five residents who died might have been cut down by stray bullets as residents ran helter-skelter from the random and sporadical shooting of the insurgents, “Othman said.

The district head of Duhu, Mohammed Sanusi, said the attack threw the entire Michika town into pandemonium as many residents panicked and fled into nearby bushes and mountains.

“The Boko Haram insurgents sneaked into Michika town from the back of Kofar Borno and Kofar Adamawa, launching sporadic attacks on the entire Michika town.

“There was pandemonium in Michika but the swift response of the Nigerian military stationed in Michika, Gulak and Madagali, helped to contained the onslaught of the insurgents and stopped them from gaining access into the town.”

Our correspondent gathered that the attack on the bank caused much unrest in the town as hundreds were scared out of their houses into surrounding bushes and mountains.