Man carries mother on back to Maiduguri

43 year -old Bale Mohammed and his parents were among the over 5,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who arrived Maiduguri after trekking through the bushes for several hours.
Speaking in his native Kanuri language, Mohammed said, “I was at a wedding ceremony in an area far from  Monguno town, where I later heard  that Boko Haram members had launched attack on Monguno but I didn’t pay  much attention to it. By then, many people had started going towards Yerwa and when I went back home, my ailing mother said I should do something to evacuate them to Yerwa (Maiduguri) before it was too late. When I left for the motor pack looking for a car, I heard a very loud bang which we never ever had before even during the past attacks in the town and before I knew it, the attackers had reached inside  Monguno town. Everybody began running for safety, no person was listening to the other. So, I had no option than to go back home and meet my elderly parents, who cannot help themselves.
“I carried her on my back and held the hand of my father. By that time, my wife had since taken the children and left for Yerwa. No vehicle was stopping to pick us and no one was ready to help. It was after we covered many kilometers that some soldiers carried us in their vehicle and drooped us on the outskirts of Maiduguri,” he said.
Boko Haram disguised to enter Maiduguri
Credible sources said while troops from the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army were engaging some of the Boko Haram militants in the bushes that lead to Damboa along the eastern part of the Maiduguri-Damaturu road, a separate group of the militants disguised as passengers and drove in some forces up to a checkpoint near the entrance of the state capital.
“The insurgents pretended as if they were trapped and fleeing to safety until they got to closer to the checkpoint,” one of the sources said.
“As usual, part of the rule of getting into Maiduguri is that passengers must be thoroughly checked at the entrance and while alighting  from the buses, the insurgents came down battle ready, brought out their guns from beneath their flowing gowns and took security operatives at the place unawares.
“They killed many, I cannot tell you how many but they really killed many before they were engaged, forcing some to flee,” he said.
 A medical personnel at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital told our correspondent that corpses of 25 soldiers were deposited there.
Another source at the Maimalari Barracks said the troops did well on the three fronts they had encounter with the Boko haram.
“Many terrorists were killed at Jimtilo but typical of the defiant members, they evacuated some of the corpses and fled with them. Some of our soldiers that lost their lives are here (Maimalari) and others are at the Teaching Hospital. Again, many terrorists were killed in Konduga and Monguno and the fact is that we killed over 350 of them in all the places,” he said.
Our correspondents saw some people looking for the remains of their loved ones when Governor Kashim Shettima visited the area around 11am yesterday. The governor sympathized with the people and urged them to persevere.
But his visit was interrupted by what some soldiers described as “friendly shooting” while the governor was on his way to other locations. There was pandemonium along the 333 Artillery Brigade which forced motorists to abandon their cars. It was after the governor stopped his convoy and came out of his car that normalcy returned.