Boko Haram seizes military base in Borno – witnesses
Suspected
Boko Haram militants have seized a military base outside Baga near Lake
Chad after engaging troops in a fierce battle that lasted several hours,
witnesses said on Sunday.
“They (the militants) overwhelmed the
troops and forced them to abandon the base which the gunmen took over,”
local resident Usman Danssubdu told AFP after fleeing to neighbouring
Chad following Saturday’s raids.
The base is used by the
Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), which was established in 1998 to
battle cross-border crime but whose mandate was expanded to fighting
Boko Haram when the Islamist group emerged.
The force is made up of troops from Nigeria as well as Niger and Chad.
Hundreds
of fear-stricken residents from Baga and five other towns and villages
have poured into neighbouring Chad to escape Boko Haram raids on their
homes on the shores of Lake Chad, witnesses said.
Residents of
Kauyen Kuros, Mile 3, Mile 4, Baga, Doron-Baga and Bundaram fled across
the lake in fishing boats and canoes into Chad following hours-long
attacks on Saturday by hundreds of militants from the Islamist group.
“We
are now seeking refuge in Gubuwa, Kangallam and Kaiga villages inside
Chad near the border with Nigeria,” Dansubdu told AFP by telephone from
Gubuwa.
Suspected Boko Haram gunmen late Saturday also raided the
town of Babban Gida, 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Damaturu, the
capital of neighbouring Yobe state, according to residents, who said
they destroyed several buildings.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/boko-haram-seizes-military-base-borno-witnesses/
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