Boko Haram steals dynamites from Ashaka Cement factory  Posted by: Yusuf Alli and Grace Obike, Abuja

Boko Haram fighters are set for more lethal
attacks after carting away on Tuesday eight truck
loads of dynamites from a cement factory near
Gombe, the Gombe State capital.
The sect’s fighters also robbed a bank on
Tuesday after attacking Nafada where they blew
up a police station and the local secretariat of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Nafada is 150
kilometres from Gombe. Many people were killed
by the attackers who rode into the town on more
than 50 motorcycles.
Also shot dead was a cleric, Sheik Adamu Misira,
whose home was invaded.
The invaded Ashaka Cement, a Lafarge-owned
firm, set up in 1974, is the largest cement factory
in Northern Nigeria, which has about 500 direct
employees – some of them expatriates.
The gunmen stormed the site at about 3pm,
according to a worker, Amadu Wunti, who said
they looted high explosives and demanded to be
taken to where expatriate managers stay.
Wunti identified the expatriates as French
nationals but the Lafarge group said it did not
comment on its foreign staff for security reasons.
At the time, the plant was mostly empty, with
staff having run to safety when news spread that
the gunmen were coming after the raid in Nafada,
which left at least 10 dead, according to
residents.
Abubakar Galda and Awwal Ibrahim said five
soldiers were killed at a checkpoint and four
worshippers were shot dead at a mosque with the
town’s most senior cleric.
Wunti’s account was supported by several others,
including another staff member, who said: “They
[the militants] pulled out after the raid. They did
not hurt or kidnap anyone.
“But they took eight company vehicles and lots of
dynamite used in quarry work. The attackers,
which included young women, broke into the store
and loaded dynamite into the vehicles and drove
off.”
Nafada is near the boundary with Yobe, a state
under a state of emergency since May last year
because of insurgency.
The violence would be consistent with Boko
Haram’s recent pattern of striking south of their
stronghold in the northeast, where it is
attempting to carve out a hardline Islamic state.
The attack happened after a triple bombing at a
bus station in Gombe city, last week, which killed
no fewer than eight people and injured dozens of
others.
Suspected militants on Sunday used dynamite to
blast open a jail in Kogi State, where Boko Haram
prisoners are believed to be held, allowing 132 to
escape.
Boko Haram funds its operations in part through
bank robberies and has previously stolen vehicles,
including armoured personnel carriers, weapons
and ammunition from the military.
Unlike previous attacks in recent months in the far
northeast, the militants did not attempt to hold
the town, leaving when they secured their loot.
French diplomats in Nigeria said none of its
nationals was taken in the raid. The head of the
Lafarge group, Bruno Lafont, said operations had
not been affected.
“The factory was the target of intruders. There
were no injuries. There was no damage in the
factory,” he told reporters in Paris yesterday.
“This morning (Wednesday), the situation is still
calm and everything is back to normal.”
Members of the #BringBackOurGirls advocacy
accused the government of withholding facts
about the dangers of the insurgents’ attack on
the cement factory from Nigerians, knowing full
well that the dynamites will be used by the
insurgents to create more explosives.
#BBOG added that the insurgents who invaded
the factory also made away with food stuff.
A member of the group, Dr Eman Shehu, said
yesterday that at first, when people heard about
the invasion of Ashaka, it was believed that the
insurgents needed the airspace located there for
their own benefit.
“When Boko Haram attacked the Ashaka Cement
factory in Gombe, what the government and
military failed to tell Nigerians is that Boko Haram
carted away with dynamites and food stuff.
“This is really a dangerous situation because
those dynamites can be used by the insurgents to
create more explosives that will create more
havoc.”
But the military said the insurgents had been
repelled from the factory.
According to a highly-placed source, who spoke
on the preliminary findings of the military, the
insurgents were after explosives.
The source said: “From our preliminary
investigation, the insurgents invaded the cement
factory because of explosives. They needed more
explosives for their operation. Perhaps for more
dastardly attacks.
“But they did not succeed at all because they
could not get the explosives. And troops were
quickly mobilised to repel them.
“We have regained the control of the area. And
security has been beefed up in all parts of Gombe
State.”
Another military source added: “We are also
reviewing security network for all the states in the
Northeast because of the new pattern of attacks
by the sect members.”