No fewer than 75 Boko Haram militants were yesterday killed by local hunters in Maiha local government area of Adamawa State.

The hunters in the process also reclaimed the local government headquarters from the insurgents.

The local government headquarters fell to the hand of Boko Haram insurgents during a gun duel with the Nigerian troops on Monday.

The hunters gained victory over the insurgents when they ambushed members of the outlawed group and killed them in their dozens.

A resident of Maiha, who spoke to reporters in Yola, said that they had sensed danger when they got information that the insurgents had killed a Nigerian Lieutenant Colonel which prompted them to mobilise their local hunters who pursued the militants out of the local government while some were killed by arrow and bowl.

Investigation revealed that there is a fear of likely reprisal by the insurgents as thousands of residents of Maiha have started moving to Yola, the state capital.

However, over 20,000 local hunters in the state are mobilising forces to team up with the Nigerian troops to liberate some captured local government areas of the state from the hand of insurgents.

It was learnt that the state government had released three Hilux vans to the state hunters association to enable them moblise and join other security operatives in the fight against terrorism.

Spokesman of Governor Bala James Ngilari, Mr P.P. Elisha made the disclosure yesterday in Yola.

He stated further that government was aware that the hunters are mobilising to go to Mubi and assist military and police that are already fighting the insurgents.

When asked about his view over the recapture of Maiha local government by local hunters, Elisha said that the government is yet to receive any report about the said exploit.

Meanwhile, an Islamic group, Muslim Ummah, in Adamawa State, has distanced itself from the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram group that has declared seven captured local government areas of the state as Islamic state.

The Muslim leaders said that the propaganda being peddled by the dreaded Boko Haram Islamist group that its activities are woven around promotion of Islamic faith is from the pit of hell and has nothing Islamic in it.

The Muslim leaders made their stand know in an interactive session with a team of USAID officials led by its Mission Director, Mike Harvey.

The Muslim Ummah led by its state Chairman, represented by Uztaz Dauda Muhammad Bello, described the propaganda of the Islamist extremist as unfortunate and at variance with Islamic teachings.

Also speaking at the interactive session, Alhaji Uztaz Saidu Bobboi, who is the Public Relations Officer of Jama’atu Nasril Islam, declared that the Muslim Ummah are totally against the activities being perpetrated by the Boko Haram Islamist extremists.

The leader of USAID Mission Director, Mr Mike Harvey, sympathized with Nigerians for the unpalatable situation that they found themselves in, occasioned by the activities of the Boko Haram in the Northeast of the country.

Harvey’s team, accompanied by the members of the American University of Nigeria (AUN) community, led by its President, Professor Margee Ensign, distributed relief materials donated by the USAID team to those ravaged by activities of the Boko Haram militants.

•Adapted from a Newswatch Times report. Photo shows a group of local hunters in Nigeria’s North-East.

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