Nigeria's militant
Islamists are in control
of the key town of
Damboa in north-eastern
Nigeria, a local vigilante
leader has told the BBC. The vigilante force defending
the town fled on Sunday,
and Islamist group Boko
Haram's black flag is now
flying over Damboa, he said. At least 40 people were
killed when Boko Haram
attacked Damboa on Friday,
the vigilante leader added. The group has been fighting
since 2009 to create an
Islamic state in Nigeria. In April, it sparked
international outrage by
abducting more than 200
girls from their boarding
school in Chibok, in Borno
state, like Damboa. The military is said to lack
the equipment to fight Boko
Haram The BBC's Chris Ewokor in
the capital, Abuja, says
when Boko Haram seized
towns and villages in the
past, it was driven out by
the military. However, government
forces have failed to launch
an offensive to recapture
Damboa, he says. 'Checkpoints' It is one of the biggest
towns in Borno state and a
busy trading centre for
people from neighbouring
villages. Meanwhile, a military
helicopter flying in Borno
state's Bama area crashed
after developing a technical
fault, the defence ministry
says. It did not give details on
casualties. During the fighting in
Damboa, some electric
installations were damaged
and this has left the regional
capital, Maiduguri, without
electricity for the past three weeks, a local resident has
told the BBC. Damboa is about 85km (53
miles) from Maiduguri, the
headquarters of Boko Haram
before it was driven out by
government forces last year

The vigilante leader, who
asked not to be named for
fear of reprisals, told the BBC
that Boko Haram gunmen
had set up checkpoints on
roads to Damboa and were charging motorists a toll fee. Roads from Damboa lead to
Boko Haram's base in the
Sambisa forest, where the
abducted schoolgirls are
believed to be held, as well
as Chibok. The vigilante forces
abandoned the town after
running out of ammunition. Boko Haram's flag had been
hoisted outside the home of
Damboa's traditional ruler,
and the town's entrance, he
said. The group had also seized the
military barracks, which
government soldiers had
abandoned after an earlier
attack by the militants, the
vigilante leader added. President Goodluck Jonathan
declared a state of
emergency last year in
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa
states, saying it would give
the military extra powers to fight Boko Haram. However, the insurgency has
become more deadly since
then. New York-based Human
Rights Watch says at least
2,053 civilians have been
killed in an estimated 95
attacks during the first half
of 2014, compared with 3,600 deaths in the first four years
of the conflict.


http://m.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28406645

So it has come to this?