Maiduguri - A massive assault by
Boko Haram in the northeast
Nigerian town of Damboa
displaced more than 15,000
people, an official said Monday,
as the security forces sent
reinforcements to flush out the
Islamist fighters.
The attack on Damboa began late
Thursday but continued through
the weekend, with witnesses
saying that civilians were left
defenceless by the security
forces who withdrew from the
area earlier this month.
Officials from the National
Emergency Management Agency
(NEMA) were struggling to
establish a death toll amid
multiple reports that Boko Haram
fighters were still occupying the
town, having hoisted their flag
above a public building.
Abdulkadir Ibrahim of NEMA told
journalists that at least 15,204
people had fled Damboa to
escape the Islamist onslaught.
"The number of displaced in (the
town of) Biu is 10,204. We have
3,000 in Maiduguri and 2,000 in
Goniri," he said.
Multiple media outlets on
Monday reported that Boko
Haram had taken over Damboa
and were seeking to establish
themselves as the local authority,
something the Nigerian Islamist
are not widely known to do.
But the military tried to
downplay the extent of the
crisis.
"We are not conceding any
portion of this country to any
terrorist group," defence
spokesman Chris Olukolade said.
"Security agencies are firming up
deployment of troops in the
entire area...We are also going to
reverse every form of insecurity
in that area very soon," he
added.
Boko Haram has relentlessly
targeted civilians across the
northeast, killing more than
2,000 already this year, and
staged brazen attacks on the
security forces.
Should the Islamists prove
capable of holding their ground
in Damboa in the face of a
military assault, it would mark a
major embarrassment for the
security forces and signal a
significant setback in Nigeria's
effort to crush the five-year
uprising.
www.news24nigeria.com

Black Vampires

"We are not conceding any
portion of this country to any
terrorist group," defence
spokesman Chris Olukolade said.

You already have, bro. At least Boko Haram have ownership of Sambisa Forest (and counting).