Suspected Boko Haram terrorists have attacked Gaya-Dlang community in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State, killing seven civilians and a Police officer. An eyewitness account revealed that the insurgents stormed the community at some minutes after 5 pm on Monday on their motorcycles, killing the victims and abducting four middle-aged women on their way out of the town. The source said that the abducted ladies have, however, returned home after escaping from their captors. The terrorists struck the town, shooting sporadically before raiding many provision shops and carting away foodstuffs and non-food items at sight. They also burnt many houses. The Chairman of Hong LGA, Aliyu Saad Yerima, while confirming the attack, said, “We have eight casualties; seven were civilians and one police officer.” Yerima explained that many people sustained various degrees of injuries while trying to escape, adding that the corpse of the Police officer had been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre, Hong. Yerima stressed that all four women earlier abducted had escaped from their captors, saying, “This morning, all four ladies came back.” The Chairman said that the tense situation in the area is now calm with the presence of the military personnel there, lamenting that the frequent attacks by the terrorists in Gaya and Yadul districts have forced farmers, who constitute the bulk of the population, to abandon their farms due to fear. “There is serious fear because 80 per cent of our peasant farmers who are farming in that area have abandoned their farms. “You can’t go to the farm now. Before, during the rainy season like this, you’ll not see them (bandits), but this time around, it’s different. There are many in that axis now,” he said. Also confirming the development, the spokesman of the Adamawa State Police Command, SP Suleiman Nguroje, in a phone interview, said the attack was suspected to have been carried out by remnants of the fleeing Boko Haram terrorists. Nguroje stated that the report sent by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Hong LGA said that four civilians and a Police officer were murdered in the attack. Nguroje said a search team dispatched to the area had returned to base, promising that the Command would inform the public about their findings. Our correspondent reported that the attack came less than a month after a similar attack in Zah community in Yadul District of Hong LGA claimed the lives of four people, including a Forest Guard official.
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