Boko Haram shooters propelled a sunrise assault Saturday on the main residence of Nigerian armed force head, setting off a savage gunbattle with troops, occupants of an adjacent town to which individuals fled the conflicts said.
There was no prompt report of losses in the battling in Buratai in Borno state, the home town of Tukur Yusuf Buratai, Nigeria's top armed force officer.
Abubakar Umar, an occupant of the adjacent villa of Miringa, told AFP that the battling started at 5:00 am after Boko Haram radicals assaulted the town.
"At a certain point we could hear blasts originating from the course of Buratai," he said.
Troops fortifications from an army installation in the town of Biu, 30 kilometers from Buratai, were seen going through Miringa.
"Nine trucks passing on troopers and another four helping nearby seekers drove through our town towards Buratai and from what we hear more are en route," said Shitu Ayuba, another occupant.
Some Buratai occupants had fled to Miringa, where they took cover in a grade school, local people said.
Buratai and close-by towns have been more than once focused in savage strikes by the Islamist agitators since June, when the armed force boss accepted office.
Occupants trust the assaults are in light of late military increases against the jihadists under the armed force boss.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has given the military a December 31 due date to pound the jihadist uprising that has slaughtered nearly 17,000 and dislodged around 2.6 million individuals since 2009.
Source: Vanguard
