14 Suspected Boko Haram Members Arrested In Niger Republic

Fourteen suspected members of the dreaded Islamist sect Boko Haram were arrested in neighboring Niger Republic on Tuesday after a gun duel with security personnel in Shatimari village in eastern region of Difa State.

Difa state of Niger Republic is some 1,400 km east of the country's capital, Niamey, and borders two Nigerian states of Yobe and Borno where a lot of Boko Haram attack has carried out.

Yakubu Usmana Gawo, the state governor in an interview said the gunmen came with heavy guns and sophisticated weapons and were arrested on different spots while trying to escape from the state after a robbery incident, adding that he could not identify the names of the kind of weapons they came with as he was not a military man.

"We have arrested 2 injured people among them; one was arrested in the town. We also arrested eight of the gunmen while trying to run away from the town and we recovered eight mobile phones from them," he said.

He explained that this wasn't the first time such incidences were occurring in the state but this one recent one happened to be the worst because of the kind of weapons they insurgents carried.

He however said he was not sure if they were Boko Haram members because they are not known for robbing people of their monies.

Some days back, suspected Boko Haram were said to have attacked the town of Kousséri in the Far North Province of Cameroon where they killed at least one security personnel at a local paramilitary police post and released their members who were being detained.

There were also reports that members of one Niger gang were collaborating with Boko Haram who pay them money