*Mobile Police Base Attacked in Gombe, Three dead
The Military Special Task Force (STF) maintaining peace in Plateau said on Sunday in Jos that unknown persons attacked and killed a soldier, Sgt. Baba Wuya.
A statement by Capt. Charles Ekeocha, Spokesman of STF, said Wuya was killed in Lasisi Street, Ali Kazaure area, in Jos North and explained that the soldier’s weapon was carted away by the assailants.
“Wuya was on his way to check his colleague on guard post when the incident occurred,’’ the statement explained.
Ekeocha lamented that the soldier was “murdered in cold blood ostensibly by the same people he is trying to protect,’’ and declared that such bordered on criminality.
“His (Wuya’s) rifle is the target of the killing; the weapon will in turn be used to perpetrate crimes on innocent citizens of Jos and its environs,’’ the statement said.
Ekeocha warned people bent on disrupting the peace in Jos to leave the State, and urged the public to offer any information that would lead to the arrest of those responsible for the act.
The STF spokesman also advised the public against flashing the distress cell phone numbers 08101118655 and 07035234228, saying that they should rather call any of the lines if they needed any assistance.
Meanwhile, the Gombe State Commissioner of Police, Mr Orubebe Ebikeme, has confirmed the bombing of the Mobile Police base in Kwame, in Kwame Local Government Area, on Sunday killing no fewer than three persons.
The attackers went to the base around 2.20 a.m. on Sunday and bombed the base which is located 5 kilometres away from Gombe town.
The assailants carted away some arms and ammunitions during the raid.
The administrative block of the base was set on fire while many cars parked in the premises were on burnt.
Correspondent who visited the scene reports that two corpses were lying outside the perforated wall as the area was condoned off while armed mobile police men searched both inside and outside the premises.
Ebikeme said he had invited officers and men of bomb disposal unit from Yola to investigate the incident and promised to give details of the incident after the bomb disposal experts have completed their job.
The commissioner said the base was cordoned off because “there are still unexploded bombs around the area”.