YOLA, Nigeria — Nigeria’s Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram, has seized more towns along Nigeria’s northeastern border with Cameroon, as the militants pursue their new aim to carve out an “Islamic caliphate.”
Nigerian army soldiers fled when hundreds of insurgents in stolen military armored personnel carriers, trucks and motorcycles attacked Michika on Sunday, said Marry Dauda, a fleeing resident.
She said an air force jet fighter arrived but did nothing but surveillance.
“The jet continued to hover over the town without attacking the terrorists,” she said.
On Saturday, the insurgents took Gulak, an administrative headquarters of Adamawa state, said resident Michael Kirshinga, who also ran away. The nearby towns of Duhu, Shuwa, Kirshinga and others also fell in assaults over Friday night and Saturday, witnesses said.
Further north, soldiers fought off rebels advancing Saturday on Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, headquarters of the military campaign against the insurgency and the birthplace of Boko Haram.
Soldiers were sent to retake the town of Bama, which fell to Boko Haram a week ago, but stopped at Konduga and refused to advance further, said a vigilante commander who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Bama is littered with bodies, said residents who fled the town. In Gulak, however, the insurgents were trying to persuade people to stay, said resident Kirshinga.
Other recent attacks
December 2013: Boko Haram attacks Nigeria’s main Air Force base used for bombing raids on their camps, destroying five aircraft.
February: The militants assault the main army barracks in Maiduguri and free hundreds of detainees.
April: The kidnapping of more than 300 schoolgirls, of whom more than 200 remain captive, attracts international attention.
