KANO – Nigeria’s military has surrounded a village in
the northeast to flush out Islamist rebels who fled there
after reportedly snatching soldiers’ wives and children
during a daring attack on an army barracks nearby,
witnesses told AFP Saturday.

Suspected Boko Haram fighters stormed the barracks in
the town of Bama early on Friday, spraying it with
bullets before torching the compound.

Several Bama residents told AFP the insurgents also
abducted several of the soldiers’ wives and children
during the attack.

Asked about those details, northeastern military
spokesman Mohammed Dole refered AFP to Nigeria’s
defence headquarters.

Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade could not be
reached for comment.

Bama residents said the Boko Haram gunmen fled to
the nearby village of Abbaram after the attack, where
the military sent hundreds of troops on Saturday.

“The soldiers have besieged the village and more troops
are deploying in hundreds,” said Ibrahim Idris.

“Nothing is happening yet but from the huge number of
troops deploying and the large number of Boko Haram
in the village one can imagine what may happen”

Karim Bunu, who also lives in Bama, described Abbaram
as a village of some 250 people


“We are afraid of what will happen to the people of
Abbaram because whichever way one looks at it, they
are facing a serious security threat,” he told AFP

A third resident, who requested anonymity, said the
Islamists were holding in Abbaram the “women and
children of soldiers,” who had been kidnapped during the
Friday attack, in an account supported by both Idris and
Bunu.

In November, Human Rights Watch reported that Boko
Haram has increasingly used kidnappings as a tactic,
abducting scores of women and children this year.


After staging an attack on the military, the insurgents
typically flee to far away camps to evade pursuing
troops, but their escape was slowed on Friday by fighter
jets which dropped bombs on the major routes leading
out of Bama, according to the military and witnesses.

“I counted 18 burnt all-terrain vans belonging to the
Boko Haram gunmen pulverised by military jets,” said
the unnamed resident, who identified himself as a
member of a military-backed vigilante force which has
formed in the northeast to fight the insurgents

Air force jets continued to fly over the region on
Saturday, residents said.

The Bama attack was the second major Islamist assault
on the army this month, casting further doubt on official
claims that the rebels have been weakened by a seven-
month-old military offensive in the northeast.(AFP)

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/military-hunts-boko-haram-daring-barracks-attack/

AKUNWATA1: The Quran contains at least 109 verses that
call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the
sake of Islamic rule. Some are quite graphic,
with commands to chop off heads and fingers
and kill infidels wherever they may be
hiding. Muslims who do not join the fight are
called 'hypocrites' and warned that Allah will
send them to Hell if they do not join the
slaughter.

Sincere 9gerian: But should wives and children of solders accompany them to war zones? Or dont the Nigerian Army understand that those states under state of emergency are war zones? I dont understand these people

ImperialYoruba: This is a very dangerous development. Ihejirika is useless and inefficient, this COAS is a failure, should be removed and posted elsewhere. There has been over 10 of similar army base attacks in the past 12months alone. Boko haram entered amd laid a 3hour siege on an army barrack, enough time to travel from Lagos end of tollgate to Ibadan and back or from Kaduna to Abuja. That's a very long time to be under attack of an enemy assault. They pretty much had time enough to conduct door to door search and explains why they selectively took hostages.

Now the army is escalating its problem when it sorrounds a village where the hostages are believed held. Boko is on suicide mission. Are their hostages ready to die? If the sorrounding army start shooting those wives and children will be used as shield for the barrage of bullets. This show of action and gra gra is too late. A negotiator is needed to approach Shekau and negotiate a hostage/prisoner swap.

Boko has always grieved and demanded release of their women and children in FG captivity. This is the motive behind hostage taking. We need tact, not aggression to secure the victims, but more urgent, its time for a new COAS.