The militant group Boko Haram has seized a town and key multinational military base in north-eastern Nigeria, officials and eyewitnesses say.

A senator in Borno state said troops had abandoned the base in the town of Baga after it was attacked on Saturday.

Residents of Baga, who fled by boat to neighbouring Chad, said many people had been killed and the town set ablaze.

Baga, scene of a Nigerian army massacre in 2013, was the last town in the Borno North area under government control.

It hosted the base of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger.

Set up in 1998 to fight trans-border crime in the Lake Chad region, the force more recently took on Boko Haram.

Boko Haram attacks towns and villages on an almost daily basis, abducting people including young boys and girls, BBC Africa analyst Mary Harper reports.

The military, which includes Western advisers and surveillance, seems incapable of dealing with the problem, she adds.

'Helter skelter'

Residents who fled to Chad said they had woken to heavy gunfire as militants stormed Baga early on Saturday, attacking from all directions.

They said they had decided to flee when they saw the multi-national troops running away.

Maina Maaji Lawan, senator for Borno North, told BBC World Service civilians had run "helter skelter" - "some into the forest, some into the desert".

Communications with the town were cut off and exact information about casualty numbers could not be confirmed, he said.

"We are very dispirited," the senator added.

Confirming that the military had abandoned the base, he said people's frustration knew "no bounds" over the apparent fact that the military had not fought back.

"There is definitely something wrong that makes our military abandon their posts each time there is an attack from Boko Haram," the senator said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30672391

I guess sahara bokoharam repoters

No distraction at this time please. .... Buhari please show us your certificate

b1oodykiller:
I guess sahara bokoharam repoters

, their messiah has been proven to be a fraud. Boko haram becomes the only card to play.

So Buhari told his boys to distract Nigerians by attacking Bama



Buhari where your certificate b4 we disqualify you

atlwireles:


, their messiah has been proven to be a fraud. Boko haram becomes the only card to play.

BUHARI will go to jail for affidavit fraud

@OP, please correct the headline...its Baga not Bama as you stated...

b1oodykiller:
I guess sahara bokoharam repoters

It is people like you, people who have sold their future for the pittance that Reno Omokri doles out to the laptop squad that will utter such
Pray why can't the security apparatus nail Sahara Reporters , Buhari or any alleged Boko Haram sponsor or sympathizer with verifiable intelligence reports?
It the same old worn out lies, religious bigotry, innuendo and beer parlour gossip you keep peddling to atone for Ebele Jonathan's incompetence
If you had half the sense of a goose and took out time to read the story, you would have seen instances to know it was a BBC news sourced story
Meanwhile Nigeria burns daily and all you can do is take sides rather than sourcing for solutions that will quench the fire, still the storms and take over
With people like you, it is true that if you put a foolish man in a milling machine, you still cannot grind out and separate his foolishness from him

fitzmayowa:
@OP, please correct the headline...its Baga not Bama as you stated...

Sorry, my bad!
Done now.
Thanks

ochukoccna:

It is people like you, people who have sold their future for the pittance that Reno Omokri doles out to the laptop squad that will utter such
Pray why can't the security apparatus nail Sahara Reporters , Buhari or any alleged Boko Haram sponsor or sympathizer with verifiable intelligence reports?
It the same old worn out lies, religious bigotry, innuendo and beer parlour gossip you keep peddling to atone for Ebele Jonathan's incompetence
If you had half the sense of a goose and took out time to read the story, you would have seen instances to know it was a BBC news sourced story
Meanwhile Nigeria burns daily and all you can do is take sides rather than sourcing for solutions that will quench the fire, still the storms and take over
With people like you, it is true that if you put a foolish man in a milling machine, you still cannot grind out and separate his foolishness from him

BUHARI caused it because he is a terrorist

b1oodykiller:


BUHARI will go to jail for affidavit fraud

When all fails, Boko haram becomes the fall position of APC and media propagandist . This baga called Buhari, should show Nigerians what credentials he submitted to the army in 1962.

This fraudster retired thousands of soldiers in 1984, because they were not able to authenticate their educational certificates. Telling us the army has copies will and cannot suffice. The thousands of NCOs and officers retired in 1984, had to produce their original papers. Why is he afraid of holding himself to that standard.

atlwireles:



When all fails, Boko haram becomes the fall position of APC and media propagandist . This baga called Buhari, should show Nigerians what credentials he submitted to the army in 1962.

This fraudster retired thousands of soldiers in 1984, because they were not able to authenticate their educational certificates. Telling us the army has copies will and cannot suffice. The thousands of NCOs and officers retired in 1984, had to produce their original papers. Why is he afraid of holding himself to that standard.

BUHARI is a fraud fighting kworopshun and stabilizing world's oil price


He is a terrorist.

b1oodykiller:

BUHARI caused it because he is a terrorist

There you go again
If a liar tells his yarns well enough, soon he will believe it to be the gospel truth
We keep hearing this worn out bullsh*t repeatedly yet the FG provides us with no verifiable proof
Pray , if it is Buhari behind BH, is he more powerful than the president or the country?
Why not throw the legal kitchen sink at him and lock him away forever?
Is it not an indictment of the cluelessness of Ebele Jonathan that he's allowing a terrorist sponsor walk freely and kill the citizens he swore to protect?
Please tell that terrorist thingy to the gods
Nigeria burns and all you can offer are this worn out lies.
As Fela used to say, next base ojare!

Pls stop replying all these daft imbeciles,jonathan is making sure people in d north will not be able to vote due to insecurities and they keep blaming it on buhari..upon all the war material they aquire,they could not conquer boko haram,what a shameless and useless grand commander..how many boko haram do we have and hw many military personnels do we have? All they do is kill the armies for mutiny,when these armies complain,what did they do?nothing,useless people nigeria limited

ochukoccna:


There you go again
If a liar tells his yarns well enough, soon he will believe it to be the gospel truth
We keep hearing this worn out bullsh*t repeatedly yet the FG provides us with no verifiable proof
Pray , if it is Buhari behind BH, is he more powerful than the president or the country?
Why not throw the legal kitchen sink at him and lock him away forever?
Is it not an indictment of the cluelessness of Ebele Jonathan that he's allowing a terrorist sponsor walk freely and kill the citizens he swore to protect?
Please tell that terrorist thingy to the gods
Nigeria burns and all you can offer are this worn out lies.
As Fela used to say, next base ojare!