A policeman and six members of the Boko Haram terrorist group have been killed in a gunfight in Yobe State.
The spokesman for the State Police Command, Dungus Abdulkarim, confirmed the incident and those killed to newsmen on Saturday, hours after it occurred.
He, however, said the police were gathering more information (at the time of this report) to give a definite number of casualties.
This followed an evening attack by the insurgents on Babban Gida community – the headquarters of Tarmuwa Local Government Area of Yobe State.
Local sources told newsmen that the assailants drove into the community in four Toyota Hilux vehicles around 4pm and started shooting sporadically.
Although the military has yet to speak about the incident, newsmen sighted the mobilisation of heavy military hardware towards the community.
Despite the aerial support by fighter jets, the insurgents were reported to have overpowered the ground troops.
The military base and Divisional Police Headquarters in the area, as well as parts of the Local Government secretariat, were set ablaze by the assailants, sources claimed.
Babban Gida is 50 kilometres from Damaturu, the state capital.
It is also about 50 kilometres from Dapchi where over 100 students of the Government Girls Science and Technical College were abducted in February 2018.
