Nigerian forces invade last known stronghold of Boko Haram
Thu Apr 23, 2015 6:49am GMT
By Ardo Abdallah
BAUCHI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian forces backed by warplanes
invaded Islamist group Boko Haram's last known stronghold, the
Sambisa forest, on Wednesday, in an effort to finally defeat their six-
year-old insurgency, two military sources said.
Armies from Nigeria and neighbours Chad, Niger and Cameroon have
in the past two months launched a concerted push to try to crush the
insurgents, who have killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds in
their battle to establish an Islamic state.
The Sambisa forest in northeast Nigeria, a vast former colonial game
reserve, is about 100 km (60 miles) from the village of Chibok from
where Boko Haram abducted more than 200 secondary school girls a
year ago. Intelligence officials had believed that this was where they
were being held, although U.S. reconnaissance drones have failed to
find them.
U.N. Special Representative for West Africa Mohamed Ibn Chambas
said this month that Boko Haram militants seeking shelter in the
Sambisa Forest may be using some of the captured girls as human
shields. [ID:nL5N0XB007]
A spokesman for the military was not immediately available for
comment.
An official in the Chadian army said Chadian and Cameroonian
troops were ready to attack Sambisa, which lies near the Cameroon
border, from the other side and would move in soon.
Chadian troops were assembling in Mora, northern Cameroon, ahead
of the joint operation, a Cameroonian army official said.
The militants controlled an area the size of Belgium at the start of the
year, but have since lost much of that ground.
Yet they remain a deadly threat to civilians, as illustrated on Friday
when they slit the throats of 12 people in northeast Nigeria as the
army was trying to evacuate the area around the former Boko Haram
headquarters of Gwoza. [ID:nL5N0XE3XA]
Failure to crush Boko Haram or protect civilians was one reason
President Goodluck Jonathan lost an election on March 28 to
Muhammadu Buhari, who has pledged to spare no effort in battling
the militants after he is sworn in on May 29.
Buhari also said he would do everything possible to rescue the Chibok
girls, but could not promise to find them.
(Additional reporting by Madjiasra Nako in N'Djamena and Sylvain
Andzongo in Yaounde; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Robin
Pomeroy)
Source:reuter.com

Little information then followed by the history of boko haram we all know . who don't know boko haram has been there six years ago?