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No fewer than four soldiers were reportedly feared killed when suspected Lakurawa terrorists invaded Kebbe town in Kebbe Local Government Area of Sokoto State on Friday.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the terrorists, numbering over 300, rode on motorcycles and engaged security forces in a gun battle as they attacked shops, a hospital and vehicles.
The heavily armed militants reportedly entered the town at about 10am, prompting soldiers stationed at a military base on the outskirts of Kebbe to open fire on them.
A security expert in Sokoto, Bashar Altine, who confirmed the development, said four soldiers were feared killed during the exchange of fire.
However, the casualty figure could not be independently confirmed as of the time of filing this report.
The spokesman of the Sokoto State Police Command, Ahmed Rufai, who also confirmed the incident when contacted by our correspondent, said the command was still gathering information.
Rufai, however, said he could not confirm whether there were casualties, including the reported death of four soldiers.
Efforts to obtain confirmation from the spokesman of the 8 Division, Nigerian Army, Lt. Col. Olaniyi Osoba, were unsuccessful, as he had not responded to a message sent to him as of the time of filing the report.
According to Altine, the militants, after engaging the soldiers, moved into the centre of Kebbe town, particularly the Sabon Gari area, where they reportedly broke into shops and carted away large quantities of mobile phones and bread.
He said the attackers also opened fire on a military vehicle fitted with a mounted rocket-propelled grenade, damaging three of its tyres and shattering its windscreen.
The militants, he added, later moved to the General Hospital, Kebbe, where they allegedly smashed the windows of vehicles parked within the premises, including a vehicle belonging to the Divisional Police Officer and an ambulance.
“They also seized mobile phones belonging to patients at the hospital,” Altine added.
He further alleged that the militants took away four motorcycles belonging to residents as they began withdrawing from the town.
According to him, the attackers eventually left Kebbe in the evening through the direction of the police station and headed towards communities west of the town.
“Reports from villages west of Kebbe indicate that they entered Ungushi town, one of the districts in Kebbe Local Government Area,” he said.
Altine also said that, despite the reported exchange of fire with troops, there was no confirmation that any of the militants was killed.
“As of the time of writing this report, we have not seen the body of even one Lakurawa fighter that the soldiers succeeded in killing,” he said.
