Boko Haram gunmen raid IDP camp close to Cameroonian border in Borno State and cart away supplies

ARMED gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram militants have carried out a daring raid on an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Borno State in a battle that left about four people dead as they away supplies delivered there to cater for the refugees.

In a sure sign that Boko Haram is yet to be totally defeated, the sect attacked the IDP camp in Banki, near the border with Cameroon yesterday afternoon. According to one eyewitness, shots were fired and this drew the attention of soldiers and policemen outside the camp, who then engaged the militants in an hour-long gun battle.

One military source added: “Boko Haram terrorists entered Banki IDP camp last night and killed four people, injured four others and took supplies away with them. Two terrorists were killed in the fight and the rest fled."

A member of the local militia force assisting the military said the attackers used ladders to scale a ditch dug around the camp. Hours later, two soldiers were wounded when their patrol vehicle hit a landmine planted by the fleeing jihadists at Freetown village, nine kilometres away from Banki.

Since 2009, Boko Haram has been waging a war against the Nigerian state seeking to establish a purist Islamic caliphate in the northeast of the country. Over the last five years, however, the Nigerian military has successfully degraded the sect, reclaiming a lot of territory but the terrorist organisation is still holding on to its stronghold of Sambisa Forest in Borno State.