by Aminu Abubakar
"Our soldiers initially repelled the terrorists but they mobilized more fighters and came back in full force. They overwhelmed our troops and forced them to retreat," said the officer, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Monguno, with its huge military barracks, has a strategic importance in that it acts as a buffer to keep Boko Haram from advancing towards Maiduguri. Its fall means Boko Haram is in good position to advance on Maiduguri, which has been its goal for months.
Kano, Nigeria (CNN)Hundreds of Boko Haram
gunmen on Sunday launched a predawn attack on the Nigerian city of
Maiduguri and were locked in a fierce battle with government troops on
the outskirts of the city, according to the military, residents and
citizen vigilantes.
The militants
launched a simultaneous attack on the town of Monguno and were
apparently successful in taking control of the town and its military
barracks, a Nigerian military officer in Maiduguri told CNN.
"Our
soldiers initially repelled the terrorists but they mobilized more
fighters and came back in full force. They overwhelmed our troops and
forced them to retreat," said the officer, who asked not to be named
because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Monguno,
a town of about 100,000 people in northeast Nigeria, is about a
135-kilometer (85-mile) drive from Maiduguri, a city of more than
600,000. Both cities are tucked into the corner of the country, near the
borders with Chad and Cameroon.
Babagana
Musa, a Monguno resident who fled to Maiduguri, said, "Several trucks
carrying soldiers drove into Maiduguri. We learned the town (Monguno)
has been taken over by Boko Haram."
Monguno,
with its huge military barracks, has a strategic importance in that it
acts as a buffer to keep Boko Haram from advancing towards Maiduguri.
Its fall means Boko Haram is in good position to advance on Maiduguri,
which has been its goal for months.
Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis 23 photos
Boko
Haram had been confined to the fishing town of Baga since its fighters
seized it January 3, hesitant to move south towards Maiduguri because of
the military presence in Monguno.
The
Islamists attacked the nearby village of Jintilo around 5 a.m. and were
engaged in a gunbattle with troops stationed there. The village is about
5 kilometers (3 miles) from the center of Maiduguri, the capital of
Borno state.
Speaking to reporters
Sunday afternoon, Borno Governor Kashim Shettima said, "So long as we
have the resources, we will continue to regard the efforts to reclaim
peace our No. 1 area of commitments. I want to reassure the good people
of Borno State that we will never abdicate from our responsibility as
those they entrusted with leadership."
He
further said he had canceled all engagements outside of Borno and
intends to "remain behind with our people through thick and thin," and
after meeting with other past and present leaders in Northern Nigeria,
"pressures are being combined and channeled to the right authorities to
ensure that the insurgency problems are brought to an end as quickly as
possible."
Shettima closed by asking
the people of Borno to remain "optimistic and vigilant" and urged
residents to keep close watch over their children and report any
"strange person and movement" to authorities.
The
Islamists attacked the nearby village of Jintilo around 5 a.m. and were
engaged in a gunbattle with troops stationed there. The village is
about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the center of Maiduguri, the capital
of Borno state.
The fighting in Jintilo
forced residents to evacuate their homes and flee into the city, while
military authorities imposed a round-the-clock curfew to prevent
infiltration by the militants.
"All the
residents of neighborhoods near Jintilo have fled into the city due to
the ongoing battle between troops and Boko Haram gunmen who want to
enter the city," said Modu Zannari, who lives nearby.
"Boko
Haram gunmen in their hundreds attacked Jintilo around 5 a.m., just
before the morning prayers, but soldiers stationed there fought back,"
Zannari said
"Since 5 a.m. all we hear
are cracking of guns and booming explosions coming from the direction of
Jintilo," said Babakaka Said, a resident of another neighborhood near
the scene of the fighting.
"There have
been radio announcements of indefinite curfew in the city and we have
all been asked to remain indoors," said Adam Kolo, who lives in the
heart of the city.
Hundreds of troop
reinforcements deployed in Jintilo and military jets carried out aerial
bombardment of Boko Haram positions, said a member of a civilian
vigilante group fighting Boko Haram alongside troops.
"The
gunmen have been dealt with and are now on the run, but they are being
pursued by soldiers and vigilantes with the aerial support of a
military jet," said the vigilante, who asked not to be named because he
was not authorized to speak on the incident.
The
attack came a day after President Goodluck Jonathan made a campaign
stop in Maiduguri ahead of the February 14 presidential election. He has
promised to end the Boko Haram insurgency if re-elected.
On
Friday, Boko Haram attacked Kambari village, 5 kilometers from
Maiduguri, killing 15 people and burning homes, in what was seen as a
prelude to a possible onslaught on the city.
Also
Friday, Boko Haram released 192 hostages, mostly women, who had been
kidnapped from a village in Yobe state following a deadly raid,
according to community leaders, a local politician and a military
source.
The hostages had been held in
two Boko Haram enclaves since a January 6 raid on the village of
Katarko, 20 kilometers from the state capital, Damaturu, in which 218
women and children were abducted, according to sources.
"Boko
Haram have returned to us our 192 women they took away at the beginning
of this month. They freed them on Friday and dropped them at Girbuwa
(village) near Damaturu," Diptcha Aisami, a community leader in Katarko,
said.
The hostages were released after
they declined to fight alongside Boko Haram, which branded them
infidels, said a local politician from Katarko.
"They
(Boko Haram) are still holding 26 young boys they abducted along with
the released hostages in Katarko," said the politician, who asked not to
be named for security reasons.
A military officer confirmed the release of the hostages by Boko Haram.
On
January 6, dozens of Boko Haram gunmen stormed Katarko, where they
killed 25 men and threw the bodies in open wells, burned the entire
village and kidnapped the women and children, according to Aisami and
local vigilantes.
The attack was
apparently in reprisal for a raid on a Boko Haram enclave by local
hunters and vigilantes in Buni Yadi, 20 kilometers away, hours earlier.
Several Boko Haram fighters were killed in that raid; scores of others
were arrested and an arsenal was seized, according to vigilantes.
Aminu Abubakar
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/25/africa/nigeria-boko-haram-battle-maiduguri/
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment