adminAccording to Kano state police commissioner Ibrahim Idris, Aliyu’s house was under surveillance by the police.
When he noticed that he was surrounded, he called out other members of the terror group to attack the police.
The bloody standoff that ensued left three policemen and four Boko Haram members dead.
Police arrested Aliyu and 14 members of the terror group before confiscating an assortment of improvised explosive devices and stylish cars belonging to Boko Haram.
When Aliyu’s house was searched, police said they found bomb materials.
Rifles that were stolen from police stations in Yobe and Kaduna states were also found in his car.
Idris who paraded some of the arrested suspects alongside the hoard of arms said preliminary investigations revealed that all those arrested were not locals.
Many people believe that Boko Haram members are mainly natives of northern Nigeria.
Meanwhile, spiritual head of the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram, Mallam Abubakar Shekau, has threatened to unleash mayhem on Kano unless urgent steps were taken by the authorities to stop the arrest of the group’s members.
Shekau said in an e-mail statement to journalists in Maiduguri on Sunday that the group would “launch endless attacks on Kano following arbitrary arrest and persecution of its members.”
He claimed that the group had sent open letters to some prominent people including the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, Alhaji Aminu Alhassan Dantata and Khalifa and Sheikh Isiaka Rabiu.
Shekau said the group had warned on the increasing arrest of its members but the situation had continued in spite of the complaints.
The group’s spokesman, Mallam Abul Qaqa, also confirmed that three of its members were killed by their own bombs in Saturday’s explosion in Shuwari, Maiduguri.
Quaqa made the confirmation in a telephone conference with newsmen in Maiduguri on Sunday.
“We have hundreds of members that are willing to sacrifice their lives in this crusade; the unfortunate incident of Saturday will not discourage us; if anything, it will encourage us to strategise and diversify our techniques because we are not afraid of death,” Qaqa said.
The Joint Task Force (JTF) on Operation Restore Order had told newsmen that three suspected members of the group died in an early morning explosion at Shuwari in Maiduguri.
Lt Col Hassan Ifijeh, the Public Relations Officer of the JTF told newsmen that large quantities of unused Improvised Explosive Devices, AK 47 rifles, ammunition and other vital items were recovered from the scene of the blast.
He said that three unidentified mutilated bodies of suspected Boko Haram militants suspected to be running the illegal bomb making factory were also found.
The Boko Haram spokesman said “hundreds of our members were killed in 2009, but we remain resolute.”
He claimed that his men had repelled alleged attempt by security agencies to arrest some members of the group after cordoning off a house at Karkasara area of Kano.
He also claimed that the group set its men free by killing the security operatives. — The Africa Report/pmnewsnigeria..
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