As the rampaging Boko Haram insurgents continue their deadly attacks in Northern Nigeria, towards Maiduguri, it appearred, yesterday, as if the army has given up, with soldiers deserting and residents fleeing the towns and villages.
At night, a resident said he was awake and heard gun shots from a distance.
"Nobody can sleep anymore,"
explained a resident from
Maiduguri, who wanted to
remain anonymous.
Gwoza, Bama, Gulak, Michika, Duhu, Shuwa, Kirshinga captured by insurgents– the Islamists have been capturing new cities on an almost daily basis.
They arrive in hijacked army vehicles, fight off the Nigerian troops and terrorise the residents.
"Boko Haram is committing all
kinds of atrocities killing and
raping. At the same time they
are taking young girls in
batches and the city is littered
with dead bodies,” said Senator
Ahmed Zanna.
Bama is just 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) from Maiduguri and fell to the Islamists four days ago. Zanna recounts how the soldiers who were supposed to defend Bama, refused to advance any further, noting, "They were ill-equipped and they just stayed in Kondudga."
Maiduguri would be a major win for Boko Haram in their hope of creating an Islamist-ruled state.
"Even a brief capture of Borno’s
capital, will be a significant
symbolic victory for Boko
Haram,” said Ryan Cummings,
a South African security expert,
who is also a member of the
Nigerian Security Networks.
Capturing Maiduguri would give Boko Haram a very strong boost, believes the Nigerian expert Nnamdi Obasi of the International Crisis Group, added. With Maiduguri, the Islamists would not only control a major city but also an international airport.
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