Musdapha Ilo, Maiduguri

The divisional Police station in Shani local government area of Borno State, was set ablaze on Monday by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect.

Shani is the southern part of the troubled state and about 245 kilometres from Maiduguri and shares boundary with some parts of Adamawa state.

Eyewitnesses said many other building in the town, including shops and vehicles, were also torched using Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs and petrol bombs.

It was further gathered that the house of the caretaker chairman of Shani council, Modu Walama, was attacked, but that like in previous times, he managed to escape unhurt, although one of his sons was killed.

Sources said the heavily armed terrorists invaded the town on motorcycles and bombed the divisional Police headquarters at about 2:45pm, before proceeding to other parts of the town, shooting sporadically at innocent citizens.

The number of casualty could not be immediately verified.

A resident of shani, Aliyu Usman, told journalists that as early as 8am, they got news from some women farmers that the terrorists were lurking around the town, after they chased the women away, informing them they had a deadly mission to carry out.