[Osun Defender] No fewer than 350 people bit the dust on Friday as the orgy of bloodletting in some parts of the country continued with the clash between Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
turbans and the Special Forces in Maimalari, Maiduguri, Borno State. The turbans had attacked the 21 Armoured Brigade of the Nigerian Army in the wee hours of Friday.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the dead included turbans who attacked the military formation and their members who were held at the biggest detention facility on the premises of the headquarters of the Brigade.
It was gathered that the turbans targeted the detention facility within the 21 Armoury Brigade where most of the hardened members of the sect were detained.
The military authorities were said to have received an intelligence report of an impending attack on the barracks and prepared for the myrmidons.
It was learnt that the turbans attempted to divert the attention of the military by carrying out the attack in military uniforms and vehicles painted in military colours.
The huge casualty figure was revealed amid fresh facts on why the turbans were able to advance near the detention camp with ease. It was learnt that the myrmidons' advancement could not be immediately halted because the Shilka tank, a multipurpose self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery weapon positioned to secure the barracks, failed to fire.
An authoritative security source who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the Special Forces, told Saturday PUNCH that the Shilka tank refused to respond to signal. This situation, he said, prompted the Special Forces to fight hard to prevent what would have been a tragic outing.
It was learnt that the tank had earlier been well -positioned to secure the portion of the barracks where the turbans had penetrated. The source said if the gun had responded to touch, the soldiers would have found it easier to repel the attack of the turbans without any damage.
It was learnt that the soldiers abandoned the disappointing artillery tank and relied on other weapons to ward off the myrmidons' attack.
The source said that the military was already looking into the reason behind the disappointment of the crucial weapon.
It was learnt that security operatives who were investigating the Shilka tank failure were considering two possibilities-the age of the old artillery weapon and the possibility of sabotage .
"You know that when these people came, the Shilka gun simply did not fire. It disappointed, so the soldiers had to rely on other weapons to defend the barracks.
"The gun was positioned to defend that part of the barracks where the turbans came from. If that gun had fired, they wouldn't have got into the barracks near the detention facility.''
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the turbans stormed the strategic army formation from a place called Pori, near a tomato farm close to the barracks, with some Armoured Personnel Carriers, as early as 6.30am.
A security source, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said that the turbans fought their way into the detention facility at the barracks where they attempted to free some of their members being held.
The source said that at the end of the confrontation, the soldiers recovered a Buffalo Truck and an Armoured Personnel Carrier from the myrmidons.
Although the soldiers prevented the barracks from being burnt by the invading Boko Haram fighters, it was said that the turbans burnt the MRS, (the traditional medical facility within the barracks) and the detention facility.
A security source, who spoke to one of our correspondents on the condition of anonymity, said that 53 of the turbans were killed in action at the barracks while 297 were killed in a joint operation by the Air Force and the ground forces engrossed in chasing the fleeing myrmidons.
The source further said that four children of a soldier were among those killed.
The leader of a volunteer youth vigilante group who assisted the military in repelling the attack, Abdullahi Dere, said not less than 207 suspected Boko Haram bad boyz were potted.
Dere, who is the chairman of Sector 5 of the local vigilante group, popularly referred to as "Civilian JTF" in Jidari Polo near the Giwa Barracks, said several turbans fled the town for their hideouts with injuries.
He said: "We counted 207 dead bodies of Boko Haram members rubbed out by the military in Jidari Polo area alone. The suspected Boko Haram members had attacked Giwa Barracks and freed some of the detainees but the military were able to go after them and killed them. As we speak, the dead bodies of the Death Eaters are still within our area unattended to."
He added: "We were also able to capture some fleeing Boko Haram suspects and handed them over to the military."