Boko Haram crisis: 'Dozens drown' fleeing Nigeria attack | World Defense

Boko Haram crisis: 'Dozens drown' fleeing Nigeria attack

Redheart

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Boko Haram crisis: 'Dozens drown' fleeing Nigeria attack - BBC News

Reports in Nigeria say as many as 60 people may have been killed after a raid on a village in the north-east by suspected Boko Haram militants.

The attack on Kukuwa in Yobe state happened last Thursday but details have only just emerged from survivors.

Some of the villagers are said to have drowned while fleeing gunmen.

The BBC's Nigeria correspondent says the fact that it took five days for any news to come out shows how dire the security situation is in parts of Yobe.

A military spokesman said that following air surveillance and armed reconnaissance, the reports of a massacre and drownings could not be substantiated.

However, eyewitnesses said that dozens of militants arrived in the village on motorcycles and began shooting the residents.

"We were getting ready to observe evening prayers, all of a sudden we started hearing sounds of gunshots," one man told the BBC Hausa service.

"We all ran for our dear life into the bush. The following morning we returned home and discovered corpses of 60 children. They all drowned in the river in their effort to escape the attack."

Some accounts put the death toll higher than 60 but exactly how many people died remains unclear.

A regional military offensive has weakened the Islamist group in recent months but parts of north-east Nigeria, such as Yobe and neighbouring Borno state, are still extremely insecure.

Kukuwa is about 50km (30 miles) from the state capital Damaturu but the people there have for some time been extremely vulnerable.

Last month, Boko Haram killed 10 people there after some of its own fighters had been killed by a vigilante force in the village.

The southern part of Yobe has witnessed some of the most shocking attacks launched by Boko Haram fighters in recent years.

In February last year, militants targeted a boarding school in Buni Yadi killing 59 boys in their dormitories. In 2013, dozens of students were killed at an agricultural college in the same area.

The BBC's Will Ross in Lagos says that in general, the security situation has improved in Nigeria since then - but the challenge is still immense.
 

Corzhens

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Another tragedy in Africa this time and it took time to be published, huh. Boko Haram is what? A terrorist group or a rebel group? From what I understand, there is an ongoing civil war in Nigeria that is precipitated by the weak government and fueled by the influence of tribal armies. And what is the world doing to that?
 

Redheart

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The Nigerian government isn't weak. Fighting terrorists especially when they can easily cross borders into other countries or use the cover of forests to their advantage isn't easy. The international community is to blame for failing to help the Nigerians deal with the Boko Haram problem earlier. It's much harder now to defeat the terrorists because they operate along the borders of four countries.
 

Corzhens

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The Nigerian government isn't weak. Fighting terrorists especially when they can easily cross borders into other countries or use the cover of forests to their advantage isn't easy. The international community is to blame for failing to help the Nigerians deal with the Boko Haram problem earlier. It's much harder now to defeat the terrorists because they operate along the borders of four countries.
This is like the rebels down south of the Philippines. When there was a chance to destroy the fortress of those rebels, the government would always be mentioning peace and diplomacy. Now those rebels had grown big and asking for a law of their own. And what can the government do but bow down to that demand. Fortunately the proposal needs the approval of congress before it can become a law. It is still in the process.
 

vegito12

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Well the Boko Haram group seems to be a militant group and believe they are fighting a cause which will see them regain the country and are against the government, and citizens as in this article they killed innocent people who had done nothing to them. I reckon if the other countries had helped out, then the Boko Haram would not have grown this big and even young people are among them, who may be brainwashed and used as pawns in a misguided rebellion against the government. It must be hard work for the military as they have to keep order in the country, and also try and push back this rebel group who is harassing the common people and also shows no mercy towards anyone and use guns to cause fear.
 
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