Women foil Boko Haram attack

• Lynch insurgents, burnt motorcycles

Attempts by Boko Haram to attack two communities in Borno State were repelled yesterday by combined efforts of daring women, vigilance group and soldiers, a resident said. Some armed men on motocycles suspected to be Boko Haram terrorists stormed Attagara village in Gwoza Local Government Area at the weekend, but were confronted by women as they entered the community.
“The community had information that Boko Haram may be coming again because they have attacked the village twice and other communities like Agabalawa, Barawa, Chikide and Arboko, all at the back of Gwoza Hills,” a resident of the area, who was in Maiduguri yesterday told Daily Sun on condition of anonymity.
Recalling the attackers’ encounter with the local women, he said an attempt to hit the women with sticks failed as their hands were hung in the air, in what appeared like an African security measure.
“It has come to the level when we have to protect ourselves and that was exactly what the people need now because Boko Haram has killed many of our people,” he stated.
The source said the alert raised by the women brought the vigilance group and residents of the village to the scene, noting that the insurgents were disarmed and lynched.
“Their motocycles were burnt,” the source said.
Also in Kawuri, Konduga Local Government, east of Borno and about 40 kilometres to Maiduguri, the state capital, the insurgents reprotedly came on Sunday in a repeat attack having twice unleashed violence on the village.
A security source said a combined action of soldiers and youth volunteers popularly called Civilian JTF, averted what could have been another bloodbath.
The source disclosed that three coprses of the gunmen lay on the streets of the community, adding that more dead bodies were discovered in nearby bushes by midday.
Early this year, no fewer than 100 people were killed when  Boko Haram attacked the community and burnt down many houses and shops. Kawuri is a neighbouring community with Sambisa Forest, just 14 kilometres away from the Boko Haram camp along Maiduguri-Konduga-Bama Road.