Police training college attacked for the second time in eight years, and in both attacks, the terrorists sacked the facility.
The Police training college in Gwoza was attacked on Thursday, January 13, by operatives of Boko Haram and ISWAP, who reportedly took several instructors hostage.
After the head count when the dust settled, nine police instructors were reportedly missing from the Police Training College, Limankara, Gwoza, Borno State.
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But a news website, todayng.com, quoted a senior police officer who confirmed that the men, who were earlier believed to have been abducted by the insurgents, found their way to the camp on Saturday.
The attack on the police training college was the second in eight years, and in both attacks, the terrorists sacked the facility.
It was reported that the terrorists came with Rocket-Propelled Guns and operated for almost two hours before they overwhelmed the beleaguered policemen inside the school.
The Borno State Commissioner of Police, Abdu Umar, had confirmed the attack to journalists in Maiduguri on Friday but denied the abduction of the police officers.
But todayng.com said reliable police sources explained that nine out of the 21 instructors in the school were reportedly missing after the insurgents broke into the police training college when the policemen ran out of ammunition.
The report indicated that the military failed to send reinforcements despite the fact that an army checkpoint was located not far from the school.
The report quoted a senior police officer who said the attackers came from three angles, adding that they would not have overrun the police training college had there been reinforcement.
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He said:“From Gwoza town to Limankara is just 15km and there is an army formation there. The policemen said they called for reinforcement but there was no response. Nine instructors were kidnapped out of the 21 instructors in the camp.
The place wasn’t fortified, the authorities only repaired the fence that was damaged by the terrorists during previous attacks. They were about restarting training there before this latest attack.”
Another source said the school was not properly fortified, noting that the policemen could have successfully repelled the attack if they had a functional armoured tank.
He also lamented the failure of the military to send reinforcement, noting that help could have come to the policemen within five minutes.
The officer added, “If there was coordination among the forces, reinforcements can get to the training school within five minutes because there is an army checkpoint around that place. You know it is between Madagali and Gwoza, that place is the border between Adamawa and Borno but it is under Borno. So, there is a checkpoint close to the place. If the school has a standard armoured tank, there is no way the insurgents can breach the camp.’’