Atleast nine persons who are suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect were killed in the early hours of yesterday during a five-hour shoot-out between the sect and the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the state.
The confrontation occurred in the early hours of the day along the Felgore Games Reserves, in Tudun Wada Local Government Area.
Two other suspected members of the sect were arrested and taken into custody by the security, following the operation which started at about 2.00am lasting till 7.00am.
Equally recovered from the scene of the fighting were a Honda Civic with registration no AH 41-BG and three other vehicles earlier deployed by the suspects in their attack on three locations in Tudun Wada town.
Briefing journalists on the operation, at the 3rd Mechanized Brigade of the Nigeria Army in the state, the Chairman of the Joint Security Task Force, Brigadier General Iliyasu Abba, disclosed that at about 1.00 am, the suspects attacked and destroyed the official residence of the Divisional Police Officer in Tudun Wada town.
The suspects, he added, went ahead with the help of their Improvised Explosive Device to bomb the Tudun Wada Police Station on the same night, carting away some arms and ammunition from the station.
He said at the end of the fighting, no soldier was killed, adding however that one soldier, who is currently hospitalized, was injured.
Security sources said most of those who were killed in the cross fire were of Chadian nationality, but Abba told journalists that the nationality of the casualties, including the two persons taken into custody, would be revealed in the course of the investigation.
Some of the items recovered from the suspects include 2 assort rifles, 2 AK47 rifles, 3 pistols, 70 tear gas canisters, 2 dane guns, 29 magazines, 2 smoke guns, 7 pistol’s magazines, I pump action gun, 6 cans of Improvised Explosive Device, I HP laptop, 176 cartridges of pump action, 600 rounds of 5.62 mm, some police uniforms and shoes, among others.