http://premiumtimesng.com/news/145118-untold-story-of-how-boko-haram-overrun-nigerian-soldiers-massacre-hundreds-in-borno.html


Dressed in full military fatigue and armed with anti-aircraft guns, rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and a fleet of armoured tanks that they stole from Nigerian soldiers, the Boko Haram insurgents now stage bolder attacks and even overrun federal troops in northeast Nigeria.

There are fears that the continued attacks on the military and the looting of arms by Boko Haram also threatens the fragile peace being enjoyed by residents of Maiduguri in the past three months. There are also concerns that Boko Haram’s continued attacks on towns and villages located around a 100 km radius of Maiduguri, could possibly weaken the defence around the capital city.

In the past month, Boko Haram has carried out several gory attacks on both civilians and soldiers on the five major routes that lead in or out of Maiduguri, and these point of attacks are all less than 80km away from, Maiduguri.

Last Tuesday, Boko Haram gunmen, in their hundreds, staged their second attack in a week on the town of Benisheik, 75 km away from Maiduguri. They left at least 140 persons either injured or dead. About a hundred homes and businesses premises were burnt and scores of vehicles, including military tanks, looted.

PREMIUM TIMES visited Benisheik and interviewed some eyewitness and victims of that bloody attack.

Carnage on the road

A commercial cab driver, Sani Babayo, said it was another day of horror along the Kano-Maiduguri Highway.

“We thought they were soldiers because their uniforms, vehicles and guns suggested so,” recalled Mr. Babayo. “But when they ordered us to come down from the vehicle and began to ask if we are residents of Maiduguri, it immediately dawned on us that we had fallen into the hands of Boko Haram.

“After separating the women and girls from the group, they ordered the men to run into the bush for our lives. No sooner had we started running than they opened fire on us. I saw many of my passengers fall after being hit by flying bullets. I kept running for my dear life until I was out of their range of fire.”

Mr. Babayo, who looked dishevelled with tell-tale bruises on his skin and blistered feet, was among few of the very lucky travellers who escaped the Tuesday carnage. Many did not.

Most of the victims were those who had gone to make phone calls in the neighbouring Yobe State capital, Damaturu, 136 km from Maiduguri.

For four months now, telecom lines have been grounded as a security strategy to combat Boko Haram. Residents of Borno State, since the restoration of phones lines in Yobe State, had had to travel over there to make calls.

A young woman, Sarah Hyeladi, was returning to Maiduguri from Damaturu, where she and her elder brother, Markus, had gone to make phones calls when they encountered gunmen. Ms. Hyeladi was lucky but her elder brother was not.

“When our vehicle was stopped at about 6 p.m., and we saw how those ahead were being shot at, Markus and I had to run into the bush, but suddenly some uniformed gunmen appeared from the bush and ordered us to go back,” Ms. Hyeladi recalled.

“We had to comply because one man was pointing a big gun at us. As we were going towards where people were being killed, one of the gunmen dragged Markus and put a knife on his neck. Before I could beg them to spare him, my brother was writhing on the floor in a pool of his own blood.”

“Many people died from bullet wounds but a lot were killed by something that looked like an electric saw; the moment they put it on a person’s neck, the head will go off,” said a middle aged woman who was spared.

“They asked us to get out of the vehicle and ordered the men to start running into the bush, then they would shoot at them,” said the woman who wouldn’t say her name.

“They were heartless and wicked in the way they took people’s lives. Most of them speak Hausa, some Kanuri but others who don’t look like Nigerians speak some foreign language,”she said.

Fleeing soldiers

A soldier in Benisheik said they could not stand the superior fire power of Boko Haram.

“They were using anti-aircraft guns while we were using AK47 rifles and some RPGs. They came in droves driving about 20 pickup trucks accompanied by two light armored tankers, all wearing our military colours – desert-camo . We had to retreat to our base to reinforce after running out of arms. But they followed us down there, surrounded our base and began to to shell our building. We couldn’t stand the heat of their superior fire power. We had to retreat into the village after they killed two of our soldiers and three policemen. They left with an armoured tanker and four military patrol trucks,” the soldier said.

At the palace of the district head of Benisheik, where vehicles were taken away and one burnt, a staff, Abacha Wakil, narrated to journalists how the gunmen attacked and beheaded people in the village.

“The Boko Haram gunmen invaded the town at about 7:45 p.m., after attacking the military base at the outskirts of the town. The soldier ran to us here at the palace of the District Head and warned us to run for our dear lives. They said they had ran out of ammunition and the terrorists are carrying sophisticated arms.

“No sooner had the soldiers warned us than the Boko Haram gunmen arrived in droves; all dressed in military uniforms and carrying guns. They came in about 30 vehicles. We had to run for our lives. I took refuge inside the millet plantation near the District Head’s palace. The gunmen spread out and began to shoot and set houses ablaze. They did not leave until about 3:30 am. We all spent the night inside the bush. In the morning, we found that they had beheaded 14 persons, mostly those in the Civilian-JTF, and left with at least 21 vehicles and a Tata truck filled with food items looted from the shops they also set ablaze.”

Mr. Wakil said most of the young men killed were beheaded.

“Their bodies were completely separated from their bodies. The death could have been more if the soldiers had not run down to warn us in good time that we should run for dear lives.”

Headless corpses

Environmental health workers, who continued to pick corpses even as late as Friday, said they could not venture into the bushes to search for dead bodies.

“We only pick those not far away from the road sides. We understand most of them died while running away from bullets while others were found without their heads. Even if we later found the heads we often don’t know which head belonged to whom.

“We believe there could be more corpses ahead in the bush because others could have ran further before they died. But after today, Thursday, their bodies cannot be picked because even the ones we had picked now have decompsed already,” said the Environmental official who declined mentioning his name for official reasons.

Some of the corpses that were conveyed to Maiduguri could not be identified because they either had their heads cut off or their faces shattered by bullets.

It was an emotional sight when the daughter of a woman, who had given up searching for the body of their father, suddenly pointed at a swollen decapitated body shouting, “Mummy, this is daddy’s shoe, this is daddy,”

And when the mother searched the pockets of the headless corpse, they found her husband’s ID card. The woman and her daughter caused everyone gathered to shed tears when the daughter tearfully asked, “Daddy where is your head?”

Hundreds of residents have since fled Benisheik in fear of another possible attack.

“If they could walk over soldiers and send them running for their lives, who are we to remain here?” Bala Sanusi, a local butcher said.

Promises and compensation

Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, who visited the village on Thursday, pleaded for residents to remain in their homes and not to flee. He said more security would be provided to guard the community.

He approved the sum of N50 million for the reconstruction of the damaged towns, while the sum of N250,000 would be given as compensation to the family of the 14 people slain in the village.

The Brigade Commander of Borno State, Muhammed Yusuf, explained to the few confused villagers that the army did not abandon them, but only left to get more arms after running out of the ones they had.

There are lots of concerns by embattled residents of Borno State who see the Federal Government as playing lip service to the issue of insecurity. Many had wondered why the almighty Nigeria Army still found it so difficult dealing with Boko Haram once and for all.

Many are of the view that the military hierarchy, although losing personnel and equipment, are making huge pocket-lining gains out of the monies the Federal Government is pumping into the state towards tackling the violence and insecurity.

The Borno State House of Assembly, on Friday, faulted the way the Federal Government was dealing with the situation. The lawmakers felt the situation was getting worse; particularly, with the increasing attacks.

They urged the Federal Government to step up its act by giving the military a marching order to utilise modern and appropriate equipment and technology to solve the Boko Haram crisis once and for all.

A top public affairs commentator, who does not want to be named for fear he might be targeted by the military, told PREMIUM TIMES, “We, as group of concerned citizens, are compiling our dossier on how the military hierarchy may have been feeding fat on these crisis from the billions of naira federal government spends to end the insurgency.”

Sometimes i dont understand the operational tactics of our nigerian military.How can they tell us that they ran out of ammunition, dose it mean that our military do not have their own communication gadget that they could have used to radio the main base so that they can send air re-enforcement. Or are they telling us that all that war planes,jets and helicopters are just for show.I tell you this attacks do not speak well of the nigerian military.For God sake innocent people are being killed everyday by these beasts.What pains me most is that once this killing happen the state governmet will come out to pay the families of the affected victims.With due respect mr governor no amount of money can ever equate the life of a human being.

The suppression of these stories serve no purpose. The Nigerian military is underfunded, ill-trained and poorly led. How can Boko Haram lay siege to a place for hours and no reinforcement or air support can be sent?

Meanwhile, while parts of the North East are experiencing the unimaginable horrors of war, Nigerian politicians and various segments of society are busying themselves with ''more important'' matters like 2015 elections and agitation for payment of allowances.

The nigerian army is not underfunded.
It is just like every other institution in nigeria
Corrupt ,incompetently led and not fit for purpose.

They wont show here but mention Amaechi & they report to state how Jonathan will crush him while under-funding the miitary and seeing only 2015 as important

bloggernaija: The nigerian army is not underfunded.
It is just like every other institution in nigeria
Corrupt ,incompetently led and not fit for purpose.

This excerpt is from an old El Rufai article which I still think is apt as I don't imagine much has changed.

The total budget of the Army is N122.4bn, nearly a third of the total defence budget but only N5.77bn is for acquisition of equipment and weaponry, while N116.7bn is for recurrent needs.

Like most Nigerian state organisations - universities, hospitals, the police - almost all of the military budget is swallowed up by personnel costs (wages) which leaves little to fund the objectives of the organisation. It's clear that our military lacks the necessary equipment needed to fight Boko Haram which partly explains stories like this.

I can understand sporadic attacks by few Boko Haram elements but seriously I cant understand why they should still have the capacity to stage such massive attacks in areas under lock down by the military in the last 6 months? This is a serious indictment on the military and the leadership of Ihejirika. Is there a connection between the disbandment of JTF and replacement with new military division and this upsurge or relapse? This is very sad. It seems we started celebrating too early. Boko Haram seems to have recovered from the initial set back and even overcomed the problem of disconnection of GSM. Maybe the GSM should be restored so that atleast people can call for help when the need arises seems it no longer hinders Boko Haram attacks. The military itself seems to lack information or intelligence on the capacity of Boko Haram because they gave the impression of a dying Boko Haram before this upsurge.

But whatever happens, the elements covertly or overtly behind this mayhem CANNOT ride on the back of violence to power. If people ride on the back of terror and blood shed to Aso Rock, then Nigeria is finished.

4 Play:

This excerpt is from an old El Rufai article which I still think is apt as I don't imagine much has changed.


Like most Nigerian state organisations - universities, hospitals, the police - almost all of the military budget is swallowed up by personnel costs (wages) which leaves little to fund the objectives of the organisation. It's clear that our military lacks the necessary equipment needed to fight Boko Haram which partly explains stories like this.

My friend, money is not everything. Even if you every equipment in the world, without intelligence and organisation, it will amount to nothing. America had all the equipments in Iraq but were they able to stop bombings before they left in a hurry? No. Are you telling me that if the military had intelligence about that attack and deployed fully, would Boko Haram have overpowered the Nigeria army? If they didnt have intelligence but had the capacity to call for quick reinforcement, the story wouldn't have been the same.

I de here, and I have battlefield experience that you'll need to be able to understand these these things. If Boko Harem travel in 30-vehicle convoy, or use APC, they'd be blasted by NAF. Forget about the AAs, & HMGs. They're too heavy to manipulate in combat. Nigerian Army has more options than Boko Harem. Besides, this report is more of suggestive & propaganda opinions than news.

[s]Dressed in full military fatigue and armed with anti-aircraft guns, rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and a fleet of armoured tanks that they stole from Nigerian soldiers[/s] = no security - line between both sides has been erased completely - travel at your peril.




“Many people died from bullet wounds but a lot were killed by something that looked like an electric saw = chainsaw decapitation



Mr. Wakil said most of the young men killed were beheaded.


And when the mother searched the pockets of the headless corpse, they found her husband’s ID card. The woman and her daughter caused everyone gathered to shed tears when the daughter tearfully asked, “Daddy where is your head?” This scene is beyond tragic, if the nigerian govt were oyinbo, we would be screaming racism and protesting daily in Abuja and Lagos.


Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, who visited the village on Thursday, pleaded for residents to remain in their homes and not to flee. He said more security would be provided to guard the community = This has to be the most irresponsible and criminal statement of the year. BH have free reign over the whole state and you want people to remain on death watch/.


The Brigade Commander of Borno State, Muhammed Yusuf, explained to the few confused villagers that the army did not abandon them, but only left to get more arms after running out of the ones they had.


Many are of the view that the[b] military hierarchy[/b], although losing personnel and equipment, are making huge pocket-lining gains out of the monies the Federal Government is pumping into the state towards tackling the violence and insecurity.
That is the reality, money miss road, bullet find body.

It is clear that the army is not fit for purpose and connect protect the citizens of this country. It is each man, woman and child for themselves.

Boko Haram using Nigerian Army Tanks? Trucks? More sophisticated weapons? Over The Nigerian Army? Supposedly __ant of Africa? The Northerners and their Power Hungry Lords are Killing Nigeria! A country waiting to be Buried in 2015, who is Ruling this Country? My fellow Comrades, I ask thee!

may God punish that so called prophet that promises virgins to murderers. May thunder strike him in whichever part of hellfire that he finds himself

Sincere 9gerian:

, the elements covertly or overtly behind this mayhem CANNOT ride on the back of violence to power. If people ride on the back of terror and blood shed to Aso Rock, then Nigeria is finished.

There are ups & downs in wars, especially this kind of war of attrition, whose sponsors are within the corridors of power, PATIENTLY waiting for the Federal Govt to be sufficiently wearied & lose heart, then they will become bold. But if that happens, its end of Nigeria as Americans predicted, and are prepared to support whoever will be supplying their oil needs. There's no way the sponsors of Boko Harem can win anything. Head or Tail, they LOSE.

ckkris:

There are ups & downs in wars, especially this kind of war of attrition, whose sponsors are within the corridors of power, PATIENTLY waiting for the Federal Govt to be sufficiently wearied & lose heart, then they will become bold. But if that happens, its end of Nigeria as Americans predicted, and are prepared to support whoever will be supplying their oil needs. There's no way the sponsors of Boko Harem can win anything. Head or Tail, they LOSE.

But for Boko Haram to still be able to stage attacks in large numbers shows that they still have active camps in those areas. Why should such be the case considering the massive deployment and lock down in the last 6 months? I also see alot of pot-bellied people in the army leadership hierachy who I consider as some of the weak links in the system that should be dropped. At this period of war, we do not need such people.

If it is Biafra now should would shoot at moving and unmoving things.
Nonsense.

Where are Dokubo and his lieutenants? how is GEJ protecting lives in Maiduguri?? if GSM had been restored at least they would have captured the regrouping of Boko Haram and those who traveled 136km to make phone calls wouldn't have done so, it seems GEJ is just the president of the South, I have relatives who are born citizens of Maiduguri honestly I tot they've been victimized by BH because I have been unable to reach them for weeks. I'm now hopeful that as soon as the GSM lines are restored I will be able to regain communication.

Ok, Tell me what is GEJ's business with 2015 when a section of the country is under siege, did anyone listen to Kenya's president speech on the attack in Nairobi? this man spoke clearly and sent a strong message, one could easily tell his next move. If it were GEJ you will start guessing and hoping after an elaborate speech at the end of the day all hopes will end up in needless meeting in ASO rock about Old & New PDP.

Sincere 9gerian: I can understand sporadic attacks by few Boko Haram elements but seriously I cant understand why they should still have the capacity to stage such massive attacks in areas under lock down by the military in the last 6 months? This is a serious indictment on the military and the leadership of Ihejirika. Is there a connection between the disbandment of JTF and replacement with new military division and this upsurge or relapse? This is very sad. It seems we started celebrating too early. Boko Haram seems to have recovered from the initial set back and even overcomed the problem of disconnection of GSM. Maybe the GSM should be restored so that atleast people can call for help when the need arises seems it no longer hinders Boko Haram attacks. The military itself seems to lack information or intelligence on the capacity of Boko Haram because they gave the impression of a dying Boko Haram before this upsurge.

But whatever happens, the elements covertly or overtly behind this mayhem CANNOT ride on the back of violence to power. If people ride on the back of terror and blood shed to Aso Rock, then Nigeria is finished.

please let's face this issue and leave politics out of it,way back in 2005 I told a friend that Nigeria should watch out because of the militancy in Niger republic and Chad,a fellow nairalanders serving in the military told us that most of the boko haram people are kanuri and mercenary,banditry is a common thing in that area,boko haram are bandits using religion as a disguise.
If Nigeria military need help they ahod just request for it.if the French didn't step in Mali conflict,do u think we can do anything there?I think they need help.

Sincere 9gerian:
But for Boko Haram to still be able to stage attacks in large numbers shows that they still have active camps in those areas. Why should such be the case considering the massive deployment and lock down in the last 6 months? I also see alot of pot-bellied people in the army leadership hierachy who I consider as some of the weak links in the system that should be dropped. At this period of war, we do not need such people.

Your opinion IS EXACTLY what the propaganda wing of Boko Harem want to achieve. It may all be orchestrated. And only the men and women in in the battlefield can tell the accurate story of what happens there. Newspaper reports are USELESS, as even official reported often need to confirmed. Take it from von Clausen, war is an extension of poliTricks.

@Sam,

I strongly disagree with ur view, we don't need help we have the men to get the job done but the decisive will is missing. The president is not sending the right signals. Unleash the military might on BH seek to kill, close the borders, imposed visas on those clowns. I have been saying it for 3yrs, we should imposed visas on countries that involved with BH and make it mandatory for them to enter Nigeria only by air that way they can be better screened. America did same after 9/11, the U.S Canada border was free and driver's license could take one to and fro Canada but passport was introduced as a security measure. We need to put our security first and Ecowas second.

dinggle: Where are Dokubo and his lieutenants? how is GEJ protecting lives in Maiduguri?? if GSM had been restored at least they would have captured the regrouping of Boko Haram and those who traveled 136km to make phone calls wouldn't have done so, it seems GEJ is just the president of the South, I have relatives who are born citizens of Maiduguri honestly I tot they've been victimized by BH because I have been unable to reach them for weeks. I'm now hopeful that as soon as the GSM lines are restored I will be able to regain communication.

Ok, Tell me what is GEJ's business with 2015 when a section of the country is under siege, did anyone listen to Kenya's president speech on the attack in Nairobi? this man spoke clearly and sent a strong message, one could easily tell his next move. If it were GEJ you will start guessing and hoping after an elaborate speech at the end of the day all hopes will end up in needless meeting in ASO rock about Old & New PDP.

Here they go again comparing a country with one-off attack and that under perennial attacks. Does the president of Iraq or Pakistan issue statements after every terrorist attack? I used those unfortunate examples because we must compare like with like. If the leaders of countries under perennial terrorist attacks start making national speeches every time there's a terrorist attack, then it means the whole country will grind to a halt. The president of Nigeria is not only the president of Borno and Yobe. He is also the president of Enugu, Lagos, Katsina,etc. Notwithstanding terrorist attacks in a few states, he must provide jobs for the teeming unemployed in relatively peaceful states, power, build roads,etc. He has also responded to the troubled states by deploying troops. I wonder what else would be done in this circumstance. But certainly the father of 36 children cannot because of 3 troublesome children abandon the rest of his kids or be striped of his fatherhood.

Those Anti Aircrraft guns may have come from Libya!!!! This is what the west done to Africa!!!! Unleash mayhem!!!! This is definitely gona spread!!!!! Naija is NOT SAFE ANYMORE

dinggle: @Sam,

I strongly disagree with ur view, we don't need help we have the men to get the job done but the decisive will is missing. The president is not sending the right signals. Unleash the military might on BH seek to kill, close the borders, imposed visas on those clowns. I have been saying it for 3yrs, we should imposed visas on countries that involved with BH and make it mandatory for them to enter Nigeria only by air that way they can be better screened. America did same after 9/11, the U.S Canada border was free and driver's license could take one to and fro Canada but passport was introduced as a security measure. We need to put our security first and Ecowas second.

What other signal do you expect from the president? Did you watch the president's speech while declaring state of emergency? If you didn't, you should try to watch it. The only thing remaining now is to order the military to level those troubled states or maybe perhaps ask for foreign help. On the issue of borders, I thought they closed the borders since the declaration of SOE? If that has not been done, then your suggestion is tenable

Sincere 9gerian:
Here they go again comparing a country with one-off attack and that under perennial attacks. Does the president of Iraq or Pakistan issue statements after every terrorist attack? I used those unfortunate examples because we must compare like with like. If the leaders of countries under perennial terrorist attacks start making national speeches every time there's a terrorist attack, then it means the whole country will grind to a halt. The president of Nigeria is not only the president of Borno and Yobe. He is also the president of Enugu, Lagos, Katsina,etc. Notwithstanding terrorist attacks in a few states, he must provide jobs for the teeming unemployed in relatively peaceful states, power, build roads,etc. He has also responded to the troubled states by deploying troops. I wonder what else would be done in this circumstance. But certainly the father of 36 children cannot because of 3 troublesome children abandon the rest of his kids or be striped of his fatherhood.

True, the president can't be making speeches after every attack, it will actually become mundane.

However, as the CIC, hearing stories like these should make him boil, causing him to step up and demand that his generals do the same. I am just saying this because we both know that simple radio communication, as a previous poster stated, would have been enough to request for back up, and for the military, there should ALWAYS be backup in your own country (it's not like they are stranded behind enemy lines in a foreign country, we control the airspace).

ckkris:

Your opinion IS EXACTLY what the propaganda wing of Boko Harem want to achieve. It may all be orchestrated. And only the men and women in in the battlefield can tell the accurate story of what happens there. Newspaper reports are USELESS, as even official reported often need to confirmed. Take it from von Clausen, war is an extension of poliTricks.

I hope its all propaganda but what is not propaganda is that another 140 people were killed by Boko Haram.

What is obvious is Jtf can't win this war..BH is well equipped and funded than any one thought
Those miltary personnel who keep feeding bh intel wee die ijn

I jst d nt kno wat to say on dis! I wsh pple like 13volts culd shed more light on what realy happend, though n one of his recent posts he said NA dropped old and expired bombs @ a very wrong time on BH camps!
How on earth could Nigerian soldiers be running back from a battle front to get more ammunition? dis is unbeleivable, dat means dere s no military communications, no back up! dis remnds me of Mali's crisis as reported by France24, d rebels were seriously beatng d Malian soldiers who were shown communicatng with civilian mobile handset! When the French commandoes came, with their backpack special military communication gadgets and other equipments, they easily beat the rebels back, even thogh they were so few compared to d Malian soldiers on grond!

Seriously, i'm getting exhausted in this entity called NIGERIA. God please change the mind of the terrorist.

After 3 months lock down and full mobilisation, the Naija army cannot control this situation.

The unthinkable may have to pass and that is negotiation. Otheriwse the north-east will turn into North Waziristan.

BH are well funded and even appropriating machinery, guns and uniforms from the National Army. They are not fit for purpose. The future is grim.

Our politicians are now on election mode for more shopping. Army generals are chopping extra budget while the rank and file are buried in hsallow graves.

You still have the gut to play religious card despite the issue at hand? Is it the prophet you cursed that kidnapped. rob and commit financial fraud in other parts of Nigeria. I think we should come to reality that govt has failed and accept Nigerians are by their own hands destroying their country. The prophet you naively referred to is the same prophet for UAE, SAUDI and other Islamic countries making good progress. On the street of Dubai, there is this slogan '' eradicate poverty, educate now''. Iran has about 90% literacy level. Some part of Nigeria have 10% enrolment in schools. Countries which have invested in its people have reaped the reward while countries which have not i.e Nigeria where the leaderships have cornered the resources of the people and looted and invested not into education and human capital development have turned the way of Nigeria .

I suppose I have helped you and others still in this mindset a bit.

In two sentences:

Politics is war without bloodshed;

war is politics with bloodshed.

VHF g fgv