Languish.org

QuoteJUDY WOODRUFF: Their name means Western Education is Sin, and in the past week, they have sown terror across Nigeria.

The radical Islamic group Boko Haram planted a bomb at a bus station in the capital city of Abuja on April 14, killing at least 70 people. That same day, it's believed that they kidnapped more than 200 girls from a school in northern Nigeria, taking them deep into a forest. The students' fate and condition are unknown.

A short time ago I spoke via Skype to freelance reporter Heather Murdock, who is covering the story for "The Christian Science Monitor." She was in Lagos, Nigeria.

And a warning: Some of the images shown during the interview may be disturbing.

Heather Murdock, thank you for talking with us.

First of all, what is the latest on the whereabouts of these schoolgirls?

HEATHER MURDOCK, The Christian Science Monitor: Well, yesterday, the governor of Borno state visited the town where the girls were abducted from, and a lot more information came to light.

They have discovered in the final tally that it was actually 234 girls kidnapped, as opposed to the 129 they originally said. And also, they are now saying that 190 of those girls are still missing. And none of them have been freed.

The ones that have escaped, 43 of them, have escaped on their own either while they were taken or in the days that followed.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So it's taken a week to figure out how many girls were kidnapped. What about the parents, the police in the area? What have they been doing?

HEATHER MURDOCK: Well, the parents say the police and soldiers have been in the bush searching for them. Vigilante groups have formed. Some vigilante groups have formed prior to this.

They're searching the bush. They apparently also have hunters and farmers searching the Bush. But this forest, Sambisa forest, is so large and so dangerous, that they say they just haven't found them yet. There have also been rumors of some girls being spotted collecting water. But the local people had told the vigilante groups that heard these rumors that if they went to try to find those girls in the area, they probably would be killed.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Why — has Boko Haram said they have done this and have they said why they have taken the schoolgirls?

HEATHER MURDOCK: No.

Last week, Abubakar Shekau, the guy who says he's the leader of Boko Haram, put out a video taking credit for the bombing in Abuja on the same day the girls were taken. They said nothing about taking the girls. Some people still believe it was Boko Haram that did this, because Boko Haram is a factious group.

And not a lot is known about its structure. It's possible that the part of Boko Haram that is ruled by Abubakar Shekau, who now says he's actually in the capital of Abuja, did in fact do this bombing in the capital, and another group of people that call themselves Boko Haram that may or may not be directly connected stole the girls.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Why isn't the government of Nigeria able to get them under some kind of control and go after them?

HEATHER MURDOCK: This is the question everyone in Nigeria is asking. They have had three states under emergency rule for three years now — I'm sorry — for one year now, and the violence just keeps getting worse.

This year, I have heard that more than 1,500 people were killed in the first three months of this year alone. And the government says they are throwing in all of the resources that they possibly can, and they still can't slow down this group.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And how well-armed is this group, Boko Haram, supposed to be?

HEATHER MURDOCK: My understanding is that they are increasingly well-armed with heavy artillery, trucks, tons of guns, hand grenades, bombs. They have put out videos recently showing militants on trucks in the — dozens of militants in each truck with machine guns mounted on the trucks attacking a military base.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, finally, Heather, we know that Nigeria is hosting a World Economic Forum in Abuja, the capital city, in the next few weeks.

There must be concern about security — or is there concern about security, given what Boko Haram is able to do?

HEATHER MURDOCK: Yes, I think that the World Economic Forum for Africa is on the top of the minds of security officials in Abuja because there's going to be more than 1,000 people coming here, and a lot of heads of state.

And we just had an attack right there. But, officially, they say that they are ready and that they have secured the town, that they will beef up security even more. They haven't given a lot of details about how they will do that, but the government of Nigeria has been very clear that they plan to go ahead with this — with this conference, and they don't expect any more violence. At least, that's what they say.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And what does the government say about Boko Haram?

HEATHER MURDOCK: Well, I mean, it's officially a terrorist group in Nigeria, as it is the U.S.

And they say repeatedly that they plan on crushing Boko Haram within a few months. They have been a little bit more quiet recently since the violence has gotten worse. They also talk about negotiations, although there hasn't seemed — there doesn't seem to be any movement in the negotiations recently.

And they have also talked recently about trying to solve the problem with what they call a softer approach, meaning de-radicalization prisons, and education and economic reform. But we actually haven't seen any of the fruits of that effort yet.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, meanwhile, almost 200 schoolgirls still missing.

Well, Heather Murdock, we thank you for talking with us.

HEATHER MURDOCK: Thank you.

Quote from: sbr on April 22, 2014, 11:36:29 PM
Browns killing browns?  :yawn:

QuoteMothers marched Wednesday in Nigeria to protest government inaction more than two weeks after 200 school girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram, a terror group operating with near impunity in the region — and which has reportedly sold many of the girls into slavery or marriage for as little as $12.

The rally came on the same day that the U.S. State Department released its annual global terrorism report, which names Boko Haram as one of the most dangerous groups in the world — ranking next to the Taliban in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda factions in Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula — and said they the group was responsible for at least 1,000 deaths in 2013.

"Boko Haram" translates to "Western Education is Sinful," so it has been attacking Nigerian schools since its founding in the early 2000s. But the April 14 attack at the Government Girls Secondary School in the Nigerian town of Chibok sent shocks around the world: More than 200 girls were taken, and weeks later it's still unclear where they are.

"There are still at least 230 girls being held," Mausi Segun, Nigeria researcher for Human Rights Watch, told NBC News from Nigeria. "Some of them have been taken across the border to Cameroon. Some of them have been taken to Chad. A few of them are still in the country, but their whereabouts [are] difficult to ascertain at this time."

The girls' identities have been withheld by the Nigerian government, which cites security concerns.

"We know little about the girls except they were in the highest class of secondary school in Nigeria," said Segun. "Most of them are between the ages of 16 and 18 years old."

According to community leaders in Nigeria, the young women are being forced to marry the Islamic extremists who kidnapped them.

The students are being sold for 2,000 naira — about $12 — to marry the fighters, Halite Aliyu of the Borno-Yobe People's Forum told The Associated Press in Lagos.

She said reports of mass weddings are coming from villagers in the Sambisa Forest, on Nigeria's border with Cameroon, where Boko Haram is known to have hideouts.

"The latest reports are that they have been taken across the borders, some to Cameroon and Chad," Aliyu said.

Pogu Bitrus, a community elder in Chibok, the town where the girls were abducted, told the BBC that some of the girls "have been married off to insurgents [in] a medieval kind of slavery."

"You go and capture women and then sell them off," he said.

Meanwhile, anger at the government over their failure to protect or rescue the girls moved hundreds of mothers and others in Lagos to march Wednesday to Nigeria's National Assembly in protest. Hundreds more also marched in Kano, Nigeria's second city in the north. "The leaders of both houses said they will do all in their power, but we are saying two weeks already have passed. We want action now," said activist Mercy Asu Abang.

"We want our girls to come home alive — not in body bags," she said.

One senator from the region said the government needs international help to rescue the girls.

The government must do "whatever it takes, even seeking external support, to make sure these girls are released," Sen. Ali Ndume said. "The longer it takes, the dimmer the chances of finding them, the longer it takes the more traumatized the family and the abducted girls are."

Tina Kaidanow, ambassador-at-large and coordinator for counterterrorism for the U.S. State Department, told NBC News on Wednesday that the Obama administration continues to "work very closely with the government of Nigeria to give them as much assistance as we can and to urge them to do what they can do, both within the frame of rule of law."

That frame is important, because, as counterterrorism expert and former Bush administration official Michael Leiter pointed out, the Nigerian government has varied between inaction and overkill.

"The problem is that the government's writ of authority is really relatively narrow, and they have problems in the south in the Nigerian delta, and they have problems in the north with Islamic extremists, and they can't control all these areas," Leiter said Wednesday on NBC News' "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

"And frankly when they have, lots of their actions have been almost as ruthless as Boko Haram's," he said. "They have gone in with very little discretion, and they have killed lots of people — fueling some of the radicalization that we've seen in the north over the past five years."

— with Catherine Chomiak and the Associated Press

Quote from: Queequeg on April 22, 2014, 11:40:42 PM

Quote from: sbr on April 22, 2014, 11:36:29 PM
Browns killing browns?  :yawn:

Northern Nigerians aren't really brown in any real sense.  They are really, really dark.

Quote from: Norgy on May 01, 2014, 04:58:14 AM
Might mention there was a civil war in Nigeria some decades ago. Biafra and all that.

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on April 22, 2014, 11:34:41 PM
I assume we're rooting for the Christians.

Quote from: Valmy on May 01, 2014, 08:47:21 AM

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on April 22, 2014, 11:34:41 PM
I assume we're rooting for the Christians.

I just know how I am rooting against.  Fuck those Boko Haram guys.

Quote from: jimmy olsen on April 30, 2014, 06:33:17 PM
Not unexpected, but still very sad. :(

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/boko-haram-nigerian-terror-group-sells-girls-slavery-n93951

QuoteMothers marched Wednesday in Nigeria to protest government inaction more than two weeks after 200 school girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram, a terror group operating with near impunity in the region — and which has reportedly sold many of the girls into slavery or marriage for as little as $12.

The rally came on the same day that the U.S. State Department released its annual global terrorism report, which names Boko Haram as one of the most dangerous groups in the world — ranking next to the Taliban in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda factions in Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula — and said they the group was responsible for at least 1,000 deaths in 2013.

"Boko Haram" translates to "Western Education is Sinful," so it has been attacking Nigerian schools since its founding in the early 2000s. But the April 14 attack at the Government Girls Secondary School in the Nigerian town of Chibok sent shocks around the world: More than 200 girls were taken, and weeks later it's still unclear where they are.

"There are still at least 230 girls being held," Mausi Segun, Nigeria researcher for Human Rights Watch, told NBC News from Nigeria. "Some of them have been taken across the border to Cameroon. Some of them have been taken to Chad. A few of them are still in the country, but their whereabouts [are] difficult to ascertain at this time."

The girls' identities have been withheld by the Nigerian government, which cites security concerns.

"We know little about the girls except they were in the highest class of secondary school in Nigeria," said Segun. "Most of them are between the ages of 16 and 18 years old."

According to community leaders in Nigeria, the young women are being forced to marry the Islamic extremists who kidnapped them.

The students are being sold for 2,000 naira — about $12 — to marry the fighters, Halite Aliyu of the Borno-Yobe People's Forum told The Associated Press in Lagos.

She said reports of mass weddings are coming from villagers in the Sambisa Forest, on Nigeria's border with Cameroon, where Boko Haram is known to have hideouts.

"The latest reports are that they have been taken across the borders, some to Cameroon and Chad," Aliyu said.

Pogu Bitrus, a community elder in Chibok, the town where the girls were abducted, told the BBC that some of the girls "have been married off to insurgents [in] a medieval kind of slavery."

"You go and capture women and then sell them off," he said.

Meanwhile, anger at the government over their failure to protect or rescue the girls moved hundreds of mothers and others in Lagos to march Wednesday to Nigeria's National Assembly in protest. Hundreds more also marched in Kano, Nigeria's second city in the north. "The leaders of both houses said they will do all in their power, but we are saying two weeks already have passed. We want action now," said activist Mercy Asu Abang.

"We want our girls to come home alive — not in body bags," she said.

One senator from the region said the government needs international help to rescue the girls.

The government must do "whatever it takes, even seeking external support, to make sure these girls are released," Sen. Ali Ndume said. "The longer it takes, the dimmer the chances of finding them, the longer it takes the more traumatized the family and the abducted girls are."

Tina Kaidanow, ambassador-at-large and coordinator for counterterrorism for the U.S. State Department, told NBC News on Wednesday that the Obama administration continues to "work very closely with the government of Nigeria to give them as much assistance as we can and to urge them to do what they can do, both within the frame of rule of law."

That frame is important, because, as counterterrorism expert and former Bush administration official Michael Leiter pointed out, the Nigerian government has varied between inaction and overkill.

"The problem is that the government's writ of authority is really relatively narrow, and they have problems in the south in the Nigerian delta, and they have problems in the north with Islamic extremists, and they can't control all these areas," Leiter said Wednesday on NBC News' "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

"And frankly when they have, lots of their actions have been almost as ruthless as Boko Haram's," he said. "They have gone in with very little discretion, and they have killed lots of people — fueling some of the radicalization that we've seen in the north over the past five years."

— with Catherine Chomiak and the Associated Press

Quote from: The Brain on May 01, 2014, 08:48:52 AM
Too Boko?

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on April 22, 2014, 11:34:41 PM
I assume we're rooting for the Christians.

Quote from: The Brain on May 01, 2014, 08:48:52 AMToo Boko?

Quote

Boko Haram attack kills hundreds in Nigeria
Officials estimate the death toll at 300 in town left unguarded during attempts to rescue missing schoolgirls.
Last updated: 08 May 2014 06:28
   
A Boko Haram attack has killed hundreds in Nigeria's northeast, multiple sources have said, as police offered $300,000 for information leading to the rescue of more than 200 schoolgirls held hostage by the armed group.

The latest attack reported on Wednesday targeted the town of Gamboru Ngala on the border with Cameroon, where gunmen earlier this week razed scores of buildings and fired on civilians as they tried to flee.

Area Senator Ahmed Zanna put the death toll at 300, in an account supported by numerous residents.

Zanna said the town had been left unguarded because soldiers based there had been redeployed north towards Lake Chad in an effort to rescue more than 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram on April 14.

The mass abduction has sparked global outrage and offers of help from the United States, Britain, France and China.

Nigeria's response to the kidnappings has been widely criticised, including by activists and parents of the hostages who say the military's search operation has been inept so far.

President Goodluck Jonathan's administration has sought to appear more engaged with the plight of the hostages in recent days, especially after Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau released a video threatening to sell the girls as "slaves".

In a second kidnapping, another 11 girls aged 12 to 15 were seized on Sunday from Gwoza, an area not far from Chibok and also in Borno state, Boko Haram's base.

Boko Haram's five-year uprising has killed thousands across Africa's most populous country, with many questioning whether Nigeria has the capacity to contain the violence.

Reward for arrest of armed group
Missing girls parents 'abandoned' by Nigeria government.

Meanwhile, police on Wednesday offered a $300,000 reward to anyone who could provide information leading to the rescue of the schoolgirls.

"The Nigeria police hereby announce a cash reward of 50m naira to anyone who volunteers credible information that will lead to the location and rescue of the female students abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State," the police said in a statement.

The police also released six phone numbers and urged Nigerians to call.

Abubakar Shekau, a Boko Haram leader, threatened in a video to sell the girls who were taken from the secondary school in the village of Chibok "on the market".

Nigerian leaders also accepted an offer by the US to send a team to the country to help search for the missing girls.

The US team consists of "military, law enforcement, and other agencies", US President Barack Obama said in an interview with US broadcaster ABC, and will work to "identify where in fact these girls might be and provide them help".

Obama also denounced Boko Haram as "one of the worst regional or local terrorist organisations".

"This may be the event that helps to mobilise the entire international community to finally do something against this horrendous organisation that's perpetrated such a terrible crime," he said.

Quote from: The Brain on May 09, 2014, 08:57:39 AM
All katmai's selfies are sad.

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 09, 2014, 08:57:09 AM
I'm sure everybody tweeting that hashtag and posing for sad selfies with a sign will cure everything.

Quote from: derspiess on May 09, 2014, 08:59:44 AM

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 09, 2014, 08:57:09 AM
I'm sure everybody tweeting that hashtag and posing for sad selfies with a sign will cure everything.

See now if I said that, this thread would already be at 7 pages.

Quote from: derspiess on May 09, 2014, 08:59:44 AM

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 09, 2014, 08:57:09 AM
I'm sure everybody tweeting that hashtag and posing for sad selfies with a sign will cure everything.

See now if I said that, this thread would already be at 7 pages.

Quote from: Razgovory on May 09, 2014, 09:58:36 AM
What did I tell you, Spellus?  What did I fucking say?

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 09, 2014, 10:01:18 AM
Spicy gets involved, and Raz roars to life. AWESOME

Quote from: derspiess on May 09, 2014, 09:53:22 AM
Yeah, Michelle.  Like that sign plus your fabulous arms is gonna magically free all those girls :rolleyes:

(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.pmnewsnigeria.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F05%2F%25E2%2580%25A2Michelle-Obama-campaigning-for-the-release-of-Chibok-girls.jpg&hash=2810fb7b9afa525e33bf490aa991de2fcfd3b435)

Why don't you hold a #someonepleasefindmybrotheranewjob sign???

Quote from: Razgovory on May 09, 2014, 10:21:47 AM

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 09, 2014, 10:01:18 AM
Spicy gets involved, and Raz roars to life. AWESOME

I was pre-involved by like 13 hours.

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on May 09, 2014, 10:35:56 AM

Quote from: Razgovory on May 09, 2014, 10:21:47 AM

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 09, 2014, 10:01:18 AM
Spicy gets involved, and Raz roars to life. AWESOME

I was pre-involved by like 13 hours.

It was your first post in the thread...

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 09, 2014, 08:58:58 AM

Quote from: The Brain on May 09, 2014, 08:57:39 AM
All katmai's selfies are sad.

Katmai at Del Taco  :(
Katmai at Taco Bell  :(
Katmai at Abuelo's  :(

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 09, 2014, 09:49:48 AM

Quote from: derspiess on May 09, 2014, 08:59:44 AM

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 09, 2014, 08:57:09 AM
I'm sure everybody tweeting that hashtag and posing for sad selfies with a sign will cure everything.

See now if I said that, this thread would already be at 7 pages.

Damn it, say it. Nobody is biting.

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 09, 2014, 10:01:18 AM
Spicy gets involved, and Raz roars to life. AWESOME

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on May 09, 2014, 11:36:42 AM
We'll make this a MEGATHREAD yet.

Quote from: derspiess on May 09, 2014, 11:20:07 AM

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 09, 2014, 10:01:18 AM
Spicy gets involved, and Raz roars to life. AWESOME

That was nice & all, but we're only on page 3.  Maybe I should work whore pills into the conversation?

Quote from: Liep on May 09, 2014, 01:07:35 PM

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on May 09, 2014, 11:36:42 AM
We'll make this a MEGATHREAD yet.

And in the spirit of tradition, we'll make it about internal western affairs and not Africa.

Quote from: Valmy on May 09, 2014, 06:13:15 PM
So who lives in the white spaces?

There is a city in Nigeria called 'Benin City' that is not particularly close to Benin.  Interesting.

Quote from: Valmy on May 09, 2014, 06:13:15 PM
So who lives in the white spaces?

There is a city in Nigeria called 'Benin City' that is not particularly close to Benin.  Interesting.

QuoteDuring the colonial period and at independence, the country was known as Dahomey. It was renamed on November 30, 1975, to Benin after the body of water on which the country lies – the Bight of Benin – which, in turn, had been named after the Benin Empire. The country of Benin has no connection to Benin City in modern Nigeria, nor to the Benin bronzes.

Quote from: garbon on May 09, 2014, 11:18:05 AM
I already posted elsewhere, yesterday, about the CNN personality who said that and caused an outrage.

Quote from: garbon on May 08, 2014, 01:56:51 PM
From watching this - I'm convinced that most of us here on Languish could have a thriving career as media personalities brought on to "debate" on CNN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmyXDtYMEj4

Quote from: Norgy on May 09, 2014, 05:59:21 PM
Needs more maps.

(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flamesofwar.com%2FPortals%2F0%2Fall_images%2FHistorical%2FEastern-Front%2FMap-Aug43-Dec44.jpg&hash=7dad73e65531130fa3c413b5b572b160d1c3ec05)

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 09, 2014, 08:13:53 PM

Quote from: Norgy on May 09, 2014, 05:59:21 PM
Needs more maps.

(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flamesofwar.com%2FPortals%2F0%2Fall_images%2FHistorical%2FEastern-Front%2FMap-Aug43-Dec44.jpg&hash=7dad73e65531130fa3c413b5b572b160d1c3ec05)

Map makes me sad.

Quote from: Liep on May 09, 2014, 01:07:35 PM

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on May 09, 2014, 11:36:42 AM
We'll make this a MEGATHREAD yet.

And in the spirit of tradition, we'll make it about internal western affairs and not Africa.

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 09, 2014, 08:13:53 PM
Map makes me sad.

Quote from: PJL on May 10, 2014, 03:49:47 AM
Wow, even the Nazis didn't think Crimea should be Ukranian.

Quote from: Agelastus on May 10, 2014, 04:27:52 AM

Or Nazi mythologizing of the Crimean Goths?

Quote from: derspiess on May 12, 2014, 04:26:20 PM
Looks like 'our girls' got force-converted to Islam.

Quote from: Caliga on May 12, 2014, 04:08:55 PM
IIRC didn't Hitler want to make the Crimea into some sort of big Nazi vacation spot?

Quote from: derspiess on May 12, 2014, 04:26:20 PM
Looks like 'our girls' got force-converted to Islam.

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 12, 2014, 05:44:10 PM

Quote from: derspiess on May 12, 2014, 04:26:20 PM
Looks like 'our girls' got force-converted to Islam.

I guess Michelle's grumpy selfie didn't work.

Quote from: Norgy on May 12, 2014, 05:04:29 PM
What strikes me, is that Europe by 2010 wasn't THAT far away from a Third Reich with less totalitarianism.

QuoteWashington (AFP) - The United States expressed skepticism Tuesday that more than 200 schoolgirls held by Boko Haram militants had been located by Nigeria, stating that it had no "independent information" on the matter.

The country's highest ranking military officer on Monday said that Nigeria had located the missing teenagers, kidnapped mid-April by the armed militant group.

But one day later, US State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki told journalists that the there was no "independent information from the United States to support these reports."

Asked whether she found it "smart" of Nigerian officials to announce they had found the girls -- in the event that they had been located -- Psaki responded that "for the girls' safety and wellbeing, we certainly would not discuss publicly this sort of information."

With 80 US military personnel sent to neighboring Chad for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, the United States is the biggest foreign participant in the effort against Boko Haram.

Washington has also deployed surveillance drones, spy planes and about 30 civilian and military specialists to support Nigeria's security forces.

US authorities have previously expressed doubt that Abuja has the capacity to conduct the rescue mission.

State Department and Pentagon officials as well as members of Congress have chided Nigeria for what they called a slow response to the crisis and for human rights violations of which its army is accused.

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 28, 2014, 06:33:07 AM
That hashtag really helped. :yes:

Quote
Boko Haram kills scores in raid on Nigerian town
Islamist insurgents seize swaths of north-eastern town of Bama, killing scores and displacing thousands in overnight raid

    Reuters in Maiduguri
    The Guardian, Tuesday 2 September 2014 13.14 BST   

Boko Haram insurgents have overrun swaths of a north-eastern Nigerian town after hours of fighting killed scores of residents and displaced thousands, according to security sources.

The Islamists launched an attack on Bama, 45 miles (70km) from the Borno state capital of Maiduguri, on Monday. They were initially repelled but returned in greater numbers overnight, the sources and witnesses said.

Witnesses said there were heavy casualties on both sides. One security source said up to 5,000 people had fled the town.

Nigeria's defence spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a bungled air strike, several Nigerian troops were killed at the Bama armoury by a fighter jet targeting the insurgents, according to a soldier on the ground.

Two months after militants in Iraq and Syria declared the area they seized an Islamic caliphate, Boko Haram has also for the first time explicitly laid claim to territory it says it controls in north-east Nigeria.

Fighters captured the remote farming town of Gwoza, along the Cameroon border, during fighting last month. The group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, declared Gwoza a Muslim territory that would be ruled by strict Islamic law.

Shekau's forces have killed thousands since launching an uprising in 2009 to revive a medieval Islamic caliphate in Nigeria.

"When we started hearing gunshots, everybody was confused. There was firing from different directions. We just ran to the outskirts of town," Bukar Auwalu, a trader who fled with his wife, three children and brother, said. "There were military helicopters and a fighter jet. We slept in the bush on the outskirts of town."

Owing to Bama's proximity to Maiduguri, a metropolis that is also home to a large army base, security officials fear there is little to keep Boko Haram from gaining access to a key city that was also the birthplace of the movement.

Boko Haram attracted international ire in July when its fighters kidnapped more than 200 girls from a school in the north-eastern village of Chibok. The majority of the abductees remain in captivity.

The apparent inability of the military to protect civilians, or prevent the militants' constant raids, has triggered much criticism of President Goodluck Jonathan's administration, although it argues counter-insurgency is something new the government still has to learn how to fight.

A soldier involved in the Bama clashes, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the insurgents had targeted the armoury with heavy weapons including tanks.

As troops tried to repel the attack, they called in air reinforcements. But by the time the fighter jet arrived, they had mostly lost the battle for this location. The jet then bombed the area but accidentally killed everyone there – both Nigerian troops and insurgents – the soldier said. "The situation is bad. We lost so many of our men," he added.

A local farmer, Ibrahim Malu, said hundreds of residents had fled the town. He said he had visited his farm before morning prayers when gunfire and explosions erupted. He ran home, but by the time he got there his wife and children had fled. "I still don't know where they could be," he said. "Two soldiers fled with me. One of them didn't even have shoes."

QuoteBoko Haram May Have Killed Thousands in Attack, Say Experts
COLLAPSE STORY
BY ROBERT WINDREM AND ALEXANDER SMITH
Terror experts and U.S. officials say a Boko Haram assault this week on a small city on the northern border of Nigeria may have killed as many as 2,000 civilians.

Many survivors fled into the nearby waters of Lake Chad, where some drowned and where others remain marooned on small islands, menaced by hippos, said a local government official.

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District leader Musa Alhaji Bukar told the BBC 2,000 residents from Baga and 16 other towns had been killed by the radical Islamist terror group, and that Baga was now "virtually nonexistent," which would make the massacre among the most deadly terror attacks in history.

In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Ahmed Zanna, a local senator, said the militants razed Baga and the other communities. "These towns are just gone, burned down," he told NBC News via telephone. "The whole area is covered in bodies."

Zanna said that more than 2,000 people were unaccounted for, and residents who fled the towns reported the killing had been going on since Boko Haram overran a nearby military base Saturday.

American experts say such reports are credible and that officials from Nigeria's central government, who have put the body count in the hundreds, are prone to underestimating death tolls.

A U.S. counterterrorism official said the tally of 2,000 deaths "may not be that far off."

John Campbell, a former ambassador to Nigeria who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Affairs, also agreed that the estimate of 2,000 was "not unreasonable," given the "magnitude" of the attack.

"We have to go by previous pattern and experience," said Campbell. J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council Africa Center, also told NBC News he believed the number was "credible."

All three, however, cautioned that getting an accurate death total was nearly impossible.

The attacks, a coordinated assault on the city and nearby towns, were brutal even for a terror group with a history of mass killings. According to the U.S. counterterrorism official, Boko Haram militants went door-to-door killing families, then strategically placed improvised explosive devices in the streets to funnel survivors into areas where firing squads were pre-positioned. "They were mowed down" by automatic weapons fire, the official said.

The villages were then set on fire, and militants moved on to other areas to repeat the process, officials told the BBC.

Those who survived the deadly gauntlet tried to take refuge in Lake Chad, huddling on islands near the shallow lake's marshy shore.


Who Are Nigeria's Boko Haram?NBCNEWS.COM


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"These are not stable islands, more like sand bars," explained Pham. "The topography, with the marshes and hippos, gives you a flavor of the misery those who've escaped are facing."

Wednesday's attack on Baga came four days after Boko attacked a Nigerian military base near Baga. Ironically, Baga was supposed to be the main base for joint operations against the terrorist group, the centerpiece of a French-sponsored alliance of Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad. It was overrun in a day. Nigeria troops, the only ones on hand, once again abandoned their post -- leaving the city and villages open to attack.

Experts said Boko Haram, like ISIS in Syria and Iraq, is trying to amass territory. Boko Haram has already declared a caliphate 100 miles south of Baga in Gwoza, and may be trying to expand its geographic reach beyond Nigeria's borders.

"They're clearing out people, getting them flexibility and a broader space to operate in," said the U.S. counterterrorism official.

Pham said that Boko Haram has treated civilians in the far north more cruelly than those near Gwoza. The violence in the north, said Pham, is meant "to create havoc to meet their military goals."

Campbell said that Boko Haram now controls all the border crossings in the area between Nigeria and its neighbors, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Only last week, Campbell noted, Boko Haram leader Abubakr Shekhau released a video in which he called for attacks in Cameroon, which like Nigeria is run by a Christian government but has a substantial Muslim population.

In addition, the officials and experts agreed the attacks give Boko Haram a strategic advantage should they want to gain control of Maiduguri, a city of one million in the northeast corner of Nigeria, and the city where Boko Haram was born. Campbell said that he doesn't believe that Boko Haram could overrun Maiduguri, but suggests they could control it -- with sleeper cells already inside the city, some disguised as refugees from nearby fighting.

"When you suggest that Maiduguri is the target, understand this: Boko Haram is already in Maiduguri, with reports of black flags flying over abandoned government buildings," said Campbell, referring to the black and white radical Islamist banner.

London-based human rights group Amnesty International said the massacre could be the "deadliest act" ever perpetrated by Boko Haram.

"If reports that the town was largely razed to the ground ... are true, this marks a disturbing and bloody escalation of Boko Haram's ongoing onslaught against the civilian population," said Amnesty's Nigeria researcher Daniel Eyre in an emailed statement. "The attack on Baga and surrounding towns looks as if it could be Boko Haram's deadliest act in a catalogue of increasingly heinous attacks carried out by the group."

Quote from: 11B4V on January 09, 2015, 08:10:15 PM
Are these people back at it again.

Quote from: 11B4V on January 09, 2015, 08:10:15 PM
Are these people back at it again.

Quote from: 11B4V on January 09, 2015, 08:10:15 PM
Are these people back at it again.

Quote from: CountDeMoney on January 09, 2015, 10:42:19 PM

Quote from: 11B4V on January 09, 2015, 08:10:15 PM
Are these people back at it again.

"These people"?  Is that like "those people"?

QuoteNigeria: 'Girl bomber' kills 19 people in Maiduguri market

At least 19 people have been killed and several injured by a bomb strapped to a girl reported to be aged about 10 in north-eastern Nigeria, police say.

The bomb exploded in a market in the city of Maiduguri, in Borno state.

"The explosive devices were wrapped around her body," a police source told Reuters.

No group has said it carried out the attack. The market is reported to have been targeted twice in a week by female bombers late last year.

Correspondents say that all the signs point to the militant Islamist Boko Haram group.

They have been fighting to establish an Islamic caliphate in the north-eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, which have borne the worst violence in their five year insurgency.

Borno State police spokesman Gideon Jubrin said that the girl bomber let off an improvised explosive device near the area of the Maiduguri market where chickens were sold.

The BBC's Abdulahi Kaura in Lagos says that this will not be the first suicide bombing involving young girls, part of a new militant strategy intended to capitalise on the fact that people in the Muslim-dominated north are less suspicious of women.

In other violence reported on Saturday a vehicle in Yobe state exploded at a checkpoint near a police station, killing at least two people.

The blast follows heavy fighting in the Yobe state capital Damaturu on Friday night, with buildings destroyed and civilian casualties reported.

Hundreds of people were killed on Wednesday in an assault by Boko Haram on the town of Baga, following on their seizure of a key military base there on 3 January,

Scores of bodies from that attack - described by Amnesty International as possibly the "deadliest massacre" in the history of Boko Haram - are reported to remain strewn in the bush.

District head Baba Abba Hassan said most victims in the Baga attack were children, women or elderly people who were not able to escape when insurgents forced their way into the town by firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles.

Boko Haram has taken control of many towns and villages in north-eastern Nigeria over the past year.

The conflict has displaced at least 1.5 million people, while more than 2,000 were killed last year.

Quotethe girl bomber let off an improvised explosive device near the area of the Maiduguri market where chickens were sold.

Quote from: CountDeMoney on January 11, 2015, 07:05:46 AM

Quotethe girl bomber let off an improvised explosive device near the area of the Maiduguri market where chickens were sold.

:(So that's how they make McNuggets.

Quote
Boko Haram massacre: 'I walked through five villages and each one was empty except for dead bodies'

Victims tell harrowing tales of attacks, but clearest revelation may be the divisive politics underlying the five-year insurgency

Why did the world ignore Baga attacks?

    Monica Mark, west Africa correspondent
    The Guardian, Wednesday 14 January 2015 15.02 GMT   

Yusuf Sarkin does not remember much about the massacre that drove him from the town where he was born. The gunfire and the screaming and the frenzy of bodies trying to outrun bullets flying through the sandy streets of Baga blended into one long awful blur. But another loop of horror keeps playing in his mind: that he let go of his terrified 10-year-old son's hand.

Sarkin and his wife grabbed their four children and joined others fleeing Boko Haram's murderous descent on the town on 3 January. The 51-year-old's only thought was to reach the shores of Lake Chad, around which the fishing settlement is built.

Sarkin was clutching Adamu's hand and his family started running. But when he reached the water, where panicked residents were piling into canoes, he looked down to see his son had disappeared. "Can you imagine the fear that makes you let go of your child's hand?" he asked, his voice hoarse as he relived the memory. "What happened that day, the things I saw, are so terrible."

Traumatised victims fleeing the fog of war have thrown up staggering figures for the four-day carnage that ensued; they are unlikely to know the true number of dead. But the massacre's clearest revelation may be the divisive political undercurrent on which the five-year insurgency has thrived.

Rather than addressing the mounting death toll, Nigerian officials initially traded accusations with neighbours Cameroon and Chad, allies it nominally works with against Boko Haram. With some local officials putting casualties at up to 2,000, it took a week before the government gave its first response.

The military said the massacre was Boko Haram's deadliest in its five-year insurgency, but it added that the reports of 2,000 dead "cannot be true". It suggested they were part of a smear campaign.

"From all available evidence, the number of people who lost their lives during that attack has so far not exceeded about 150 in the interim. This figure includes many of the terrorists who were bearing arms," army spokesman Chris Olukolade said, adding that there were ongoing ground and air offensives to retake the town.

But the psychological damage of the incessant attacks is indisputable. The massacre has not, so far, warranted comment from the president, Goodluck Jonathan. Months after 276 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram made global headlines – a fact which has barely featured in the campaigns of candidates jostling for election in February – a largely mute reaction from ordinary citizens points to a nation inured to violent deaths. Last year, around 27 Nigerians died each day from Boko Haram-related violence. Now the first march for Baga victims is being organised in Paris , where 1 million people poured on to the streets after the Charlie Hebdo attack.

With four days of almost unopposed carnage, the militants cemented their control of Nigeria's eastern border with Chad. The brazen attack showed not only how a fleet-footed sect has run rings around Africa's largest army but how far Boko Haram's once clear-cut aims have been lost in a haze of bloodshed as it tightens its grip on a state where it once had popular support.

Two hours north-east of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, on a road littered with burnt-out government buildings, lies the outpost of Baga. The town's remoteness made it a haven for fuel smugglers and cross-border raids by Chadian rebels in the 1980s, leading to a multinational army mission being headquartered there.

A series of lonely low-rise buildings surrounded by barbed wire and sandbags, the base nominally included troops from neighbours Niger, Cameroon and Chad. But accusations and counter-accusations of corruption and sabotage soured relations, and by November last year, after an attack by Boko Haram that killed at least 40 fishermen, only Nigerian troops were stationed there.

"This was an important base for us and it made no sense for them to pull out like that," said a Nigerian soldier who served five tours of duty in Baga and spoke on condition of anonymity to the Guardian. "The [latest] attack wasn't a surprise attack."

A military spokesperson from Niger, which has experienced attacks from Boko Haram, said its troops had withdrawn for "tactical reasons". Neither the soldier nor the official clarified when the last international troops departed.

Dawn had not yet broken when the militants began creeping in. These days, being in the wrong place at the wrong time in Borno state can cost one's life and Yusuf Ahmed, a vegetable trader who had driven from Maiduguri a day earlier, had a lucky escape.

After finishing prayers at around 5am, he noticed several camouflage trucks filled with men driving into the town. The occupants wore military fatigues, so when the gunshots began an hour later, Ahmed was not immediately frightened. "Being a Maiduguri man who is used to soldiers all over the place, I actually walked towards the direction which people said they were coming from," he said.

Nearby, another group of men started erecting roadside barriers. Among them was 37-year-old Yusuf Idris, who bought a $40 (£26) home-made musket and joined his friends in a civilian vigilante effort after a savage assault in 2013 turned Baga into Nigeria's new ground zero against Boko Haram. When they noticed a flurry of military activity, Idris and his men wanted to help. Nobody expected the coming carnage.

By the time Ahmed came upon the group of "soldiers", he knew something was wrong. "I knew they weren't soldiers because they wore military uniforms but no boots and berets," he said. Some took off towards the market, throwing money, cattle and food into their trucks. "They were laughing and saying why should they pay for what is theirs by right. They were looting everything," Ahmed said.

Another group homed in on the army base. With cries of "Allahu Akbar", the militants began shooting in earnest. At the roadblock, Idris hoisted his crude rifle and prepared to fight against insurgents armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. "All of a sudden another group who had overrun the [army] base came towards us, mounted on armoured tanks, and that was too much for us," he said. Two of the vigilantes were shot dead. The others fled.

Soldiers battled back for almost nine hours before throwing away their weapons and running into the bush, witnesses and a local official told the Guardian. No reinforcements arrived, according to the soldier and another official.

Idris, the vigilante, ran into a house whose corrugated iron roof had caved in under an onslaught of bullets. He and a shellshocked woman called Hadiza sheltered there for three days while the marauding militants looted and burnt houses. At night the two curled up beside the bullet-pocked wall and fell into an exhausted sleep to the sound of celebratory gunshots. One morning Hadiza crept out to find water and never returned. By nightfall, Idris decided to run.

"When I reached the bush, I was relieved at first but then I saw bodies everywhere. I walked through five villages and each one I passed was empty except for dead bodies."

Among the hundreds fleeing was Sarkin, the herbal doctor tormented by memories of his son's hand slipping out of his own. After two days of trekking, a wound in his leg turned puffy and black under the burning desert sun. Sarkin kept looking for his children in the ragged crowd of refugees dying of thirst and exposure around him.

"I grew up in Baga, my children schooled there. It's too painful to even cry when I think of what happened," he said from the refugee camp in Maiduguri, where motorists who picked him up eventually dropped him. Each day he combs through the hundreds of new arrivals alongside a neighbour whose children often played with his own, but both men have slowly accepted that their families have probably been killed. His youngest son, Gari, is five years old.

"Nobody has seen them. I think I have to accept that they are dead," he said quietly. "Right now my mind is confused, but when I have the strength I think I have to go somewhere else and start afresh. It's the only thing I can do now."

Quote from: jimmy olsen on January 14, 2015, 11:59:57 PM
Given how Hippos behave, probably dead. :(

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on January 15, 2015, 09:40:06 AM
Were there once hippos in North America?

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on January 15, 2015, 09:40:06 AM
Were there once hippos in North America?

Quote from: derspiess on January 15, 2015, 09:42:32 AM

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on January 15, 2015, 09:40:06 AM
Were there once hippos in North America?

:lol:  No. 

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on January 15, 2015, 09:40:06 AM
Were there once hippos in North America?

They'd probably have been killed off anyway. We only tolerate dangerous animals in the wild when they're the kind that learns to keep away from us.

Quote from: Agelastus on January 15, 2015, 10:56:39 AM
Apparently there is, now, a small population of wild hippos in South America.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27905743

Will Derspeiss be heading south to kill them off before they get out of control?

QuoteBoko Haram Killings Reported in Chad for First Time

By Ben Mathis-Lilley

A murderous Friday attack by Boko Haram terrorists on a village in the country of Chad is "the first known lethal attack in that country by the Nigerian militant group," Reuters says:

    Dozens of militants arrived by motorized canoe at the fishing village on the shores of Lake Chad early in the morning, setting houses ablaze and attacking a police station.

    "They came on board three pirogues and succeeded in killing about ten people before being pushed back by the army," said a resident of the village of Ngouboua, about 20 km (12 miles) east of the Nigerian border, to which thousands of Nigerian refugees had fled in early January after an attack on the town of Baga.

Boko Haram has been increasingly active in border areas in recent months, drawing forces from Chad and Cameroon into battle. Here's the layout of those countries (Lake Chad is at the top of the map):


At least 31 people were killed by terror attacks in Nigeria proper this week, and a planned election—in which ineffective president Goodluck Jonathan's main challenger is former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari—has been postponed by six weeks. (Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, writing in The Atlantic, called the postponement "a flailing act of desperation from an incumbent terrified of losing.")

Ben Mathis-Lilley edits the Slatest. Follow @Slatest on Twitter.

Quote from: jimmy olsen on January 14, 2015, 11:48:04 PM

Quote

Why did the world ignore Baga attacks?”

Quote from: Valmy on February 13, 2015, 01:25:08 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on January 14, 2015, 11:48:04 PM

Quote

Why did the world ignore Baga attacks?"

What is the appropriate response?  Drone strikes?  Ineffectual hand-wringing.

Quote from: Ed Anger on February 13, 2015, 06:33:30 PM
I bet 6 quatloos we won't.

Quote
Boko Haram: 200,000 Christians at Risk of Massacre in Nigeria
By Robert Windrem and Alexander Smith

Boko Haram forces appear poised to attack Maiduguri, a city of 2 million in northeast Nigeria -- meaning that 200,000 Christians could be at risk of slaughter by the Islamist terror group, say U.S. intelligence officials and experts on Nigeria.

"An attack on Madiguri is very likely," said J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Project at the Atlantic Council, echoing U.S. intelligence officials. Pham believes, as do other experts, that Boko Haram has already placed "sleeper cells" among the tide of refugees who have fled the group's murderous rampage through Africa's most populous nation. "They've done it everywhere else they've gone," said Pham. "So why not Maiduguri?"

One big concern is the large number of Christians in the city -- about 200,000, most of them Roman Catholic. In previous attacks, Boko Haram has offered Nigerian Christians the opportunity to convert or be killed. Already, 200 Christian churches have been lost to the group's onslaught.

Strategically, success in Maiduguri would provide Boko Haram with a launching point for further attacks on the neighboring states of Cameroon, Chad and Niger, all of whose territory were once part of an Islamic caliphate that lasted six centuries, ending in the 1300's. Boko Haram declared its own caliphate in the region last year.

But even with limited success, the image of Boko Haram's black jihadist flag flying over any part of Maiduguri could be a symbolic victory. "Even if they only raise the black flag only briefly, it will be a big blow to the central government," said Pham.

Boko Haram currently has about 4,000 to 6,000 men --and kidnapped boys -- under arms, and its tactics have improved. "They're operating at a faster tempo and on a larger scale. They are now capable of large-scale operations," said a U.S. official, citing last month's deadly assault on 16 villages and the city of Baga, northeast of Maiduguri. By some estimates, 2,000 people died in those attacks.

There is evidence that the group has already begun testing defenses on Maiduguri's outskirts. A senator from Borno State, Ahmed Zanna, told NBC News Thursday that a group of suspected Boko Haram militants raided the village of Mbuta, just 15 miles northeast of Maiduguri, killing eight people, burning buildings and forcing most others to flee their homes. "Some people were burned alive," said Zanna, who is currently inside Maiduguri. He also said that on Thursday more than a dozen people were killed in a suicide blast in Biu, 100 miles to the southwest.

Zanna told NBC News that despite these attacks residents were determined not to let their city be overrun. "If Boko Haram comes back people will be ready," he said. "They will come out in the streets in their hundreds and thousands to defend Maiduguri."

John Campbell, the former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria and now director of the Bunche Center at the Council on Foreign Relations, said an internal CFR analysis shows that there is only one road in and out of Maiduguri that isn't controlled by the group.

"It's a noose around Maiduguri," said Campbell, citing recent attacks on villages along Lake Chad that cut off access to the north and east. "There's one road open, going west. There is potential for a raid and occupation."

Most of those who spoke to NBC News think an attack could be timed to the country's rescheduled elections. Last Saturday, the National Election Commission postponed scheduled national elections from February 14 until March 28, but claimed that the inauguration of a new president will still be held May 29.

If and when Boko Haram makes a move on Maiduguri, said a senior U.S. intelligence official, the terror group will have one great tactical advantage. It is very familiar with the city. Late last decade Boko Haram set up an encampment near the so-called Railroad Mosque, which is next to the train station on the western edge of the city. Federal troops launched an attack on the group's camp in 2009, killing its then-leader Mohammed Yusuf. Yusuf, now seen as a moderate, was replaced by current leader Abubakar Shekau, who has run the recent campaign of terror.

Campbell believes the initial Boko Haram raids will focus on the area around the Railroad Mosque in order to enhance the group's narrative. Intelligence officials and Nigeria experts think it would be difficult for Boko Haram to hold the city, but Boko Haram has surprised both officials and experts in the past.

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 14, 2015, 11:03:34 AM
How can an organization with just 4-6,000 armed men possibly seize a city of two million people?  :huh:

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on February 14, 2015, 01:03:20 PM
Tim is thinking like an American, where those 2 million people would have 2 million guns.  :ph34r:

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 14, 2015, 11:03:34 AM
How can an organization with just 4-6,000 armed men possibly seize a city of two million people?  :huh:

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 14, 2015, 01:23:23 PM
Africa is awash in AK-47s

Quote from: Tonitrus on February 14, 2015, 03:35:20 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 14, 2015, 11:03:34 AM
How can an organization with just 4-6,000 armed men possibly seize a city of two million people?  :huh:

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Quote from: Razgovory on February 14, 2015, 05:59:51 PM

Quote from: Tonitrus on February 14, 2015, 03:35:20 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 14, 2015, 11:03:34 AM
How can an organization with just 4-6,000 armed men possibly seize a city of two million people?  :huh:

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

What about neutral men doing nothing?  What does that produce?

Quote from: Tonitrus on February 14, 2015, 03:35:20 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 14, 2015, 11:03:34 AM
How can an organization with just 4-6,000 armed men possibly seize a city of two million people?  :huh:

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 14, 2015, 06:50:29 PM

Quote from: Tonitrus on February 14, 2015, 03:35:20 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 14, 2015, 11:03:34 AM
How can an organization with just 4-6,000 armed men possibly seize a city of two million people?  :huh:

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

No one has to be good to stop them, just selfishly concerned with their own well being. 200,000 Christians should be able to field a self defense militia large enough to stop them.

Quote from: viper37 on February 14, 2015, 08:10:17 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 14, 2015, 06:50:29 PM

Quote from: Tonitrus on February 14, 2015, 03:35:20 PM

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 14, 2015, 11:03:34 AM
How can an organization with just 4-6,000 armed men possibly seize a city of two million people?  :huh:

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

No one has to be good to stop them, just selfishly concerned with their own well being. 200,000 Christians should be able to field a self defense militia large enough to stop them.

of that numbers, if you reduce women & children, you get maybe 50 000 people.  Out of these, you need people with guns.  Most of them won't have that.  Of those that have guns... well, really, you need people to train them, to shape them into a cohesive force.   Boko Haram has that, the civilians not.

QuoteThere is now thought to be one AK-47 for every family in southern Sudan,

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 14, 2015, 09:40:34 PM
If Sudanese can afford them, Nigerians definitely can as well

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/global-arms-trade-africa-and-the-curse-of-the-ak47-472975.html

QuoteThere is now thought to be one AK-47 for every family in southern Sudan,

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 14, 2015, 09:40:34 PM
If Sudanese can afford them, Nigerians definitely can as well

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/global-arms-trade-africa-and-the-curse-of-the-ak47-472975.html

QuoteThere is now thought to be one AK-47 for every family in southern Sudan,

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 14, 2015, 09:40:34 PM
If Sudanese can afford them, Nigerians definitely can as well

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/global-arms-trade-africa-and-the-curse-of-the-ak47-472975.html

QuoteThere is now thought to be one AK-47 for every family in southern Sudan,

Quote
News  |  Nigeria  |  National 
Army kill Boko Haram leader, rescue nine children

By Segun Olaniyi (Abuja) Njadvara Musa (Maiduguri)     |   13 June 2017   |   4:40 am

Troops of the 3 Battalion, 22 Brigade of the Nigerian Army yesterday killed the leader of Boko Haram, Abu Nazir, at Jarawa village in Borno State. The soldiers of Operation Lafiya Dole, supported by some members of the Civilian JTF, also rescued nine abducted children who were undergoing training at a camp near the village.

A statement by Army Spokesman, Brig. Gen Sani Kukasheka Usman, disclosed this yesterday. He said the terrorists had ambushed them about a kilometer to Jarawa village, but were overpowered and pursued into the forest.

Usman added that the rescued children were receiving preliminary humanitarian assistance in preparation to being handed over to Kala Balge Internally Displaced Persons Camp Management Committee.


He said the clearance operation followed the credible information that they received about the convergence of some elements of suspected Boko Haram terrorists. He disclosed that the troops also captured several weapons, including an AK-47 rifle, 1 double barrel gun, 1 primed heavy Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and three motorcycles.

Meanwhile, the Acting General Officer Commanding 8 Task Force Division, Brig-Gen. Stevenson Olabanji has pledged the military's capacity to end the insurgency in the northeast.

He made the commitment yesterday, while addressing officers and soldiers at the headquarters of 133 Special Force Battalion, Kangarwa, in Borno State.

Olabanji said the Nigerian Army is the bastion of democracy and freedom, as it is deployed in the northeast and other parts to deal with internal security challenges.

He promised officers and soldiers who have overstayed in their operational areas that they would soon be given the opportunity to go home in a rotational exercise.

Quotetroops also captured several weapons, including an AK-47 rifle, 1 double barrel gun, 1 primed heavy Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and three motorcycles.