Military Left Fighting To Vigilantes n Hunters With Inferior Weapons - Victims Gives Account

The terrorists have again abducted another 191 people including women, girls and boys from Gumsuri community near Chibok.
Eight months after Boko Haram terrorists kidnapped 276 school girls from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, with more than 200 of them still in captive the terrorists also killed 32 people in an attack last Sunday.

According to an account by two local government officials and a witness, a convoy of gunmen stormed Gumsuri in Borno State on Sunday, throwing petrol bombs into buildings and leaving much of the village destroyed 32 killed in Gumsuri The officials, who put the death toll at 32, said the local government established the number of those abducted by contacting families, ward heads and clerics. A vigilante leader based in the Borno State capital, Maiduguri, Usman Kakani, told AFP that fighters who were in Gumsuri during the attack provided a figure of 191 abducted, including women, girls and boys.

Gumsuri is about 70 kilometres south of Maiduguri and falls on the road that leads to Chibok. Details of the Gumsuri attack took four days to emerge because the mobile phone network in the region has completely collapsed and many roads are impassable. Those who fled the village said it was too dangerous to head directly to Maiduguri. Instead, they travelled hundreds of kilometres in the opposite direction to connect with the main road that leads to the state capital.

Mukhtar Buba, a resident who fled to Maiduguri, also confirmed that women and children were taken. “After killing our youths, the insurgents have taken away our wives and daughters,” he said. The military and police were not immediately available to comment.

Witnesses said the hostages were taken away in trucks towards the Sambisa Forest, a notorious rebel stronghold, where the Chibok girls were also reportedly taken before being divided into smaller groups. Vigilantes defend Gumsuri Vigilantes, who have the military’s backing, had defended Gumsuri against waves of previous insurgents’ attacks but were ultimately overpowered on Sunday, according to the council officials.

The military has reportedly left much of the front-line fighting to vigilantes and hunters who have inferior weapons and almost no training. President Goodluck Jonathan, who is standing for re-election in February 14 polls, had pledged that the Chibok attack would mark the beginning of the end of terrorism in Nigeria, but violence has escalated since. His Senior Special Assistant on Pubic Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe had last Monday cautioned the media against counting the days of the Chibok girls’ abduction. The insurgents have carried out a series of abductions this year, boosting their supply of child fighters, and young women who have reportedly been used as sex slaves.

Boko Haram has not claimed responsibility for the Gumsuri attack, but multiple sources in the village blamed the extremists whose five-year uprising has killed more than 13,000 people and forced more than 1.5 million others from their homes. The North East has been the epicentre of the conflict, but unrest has also spread into neighbouring Cameroon, where the military claimed to have killed 116 insurgents while repelling a Wednesday attack on an army base in the border town of Amchide.

The defence ministry in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, said Wednesday’s raid in the town of Amchide, near the border with Nigeria was carried out by several hundred Islamists who ambushed a column of military vehicles with explosives and simultaneously attacked the army base. Cameroonian troops retaliated instantly, the ministry said, killing 116 insurgents while one soldier has been confirmed dead and another missing near the border with Nigeria on Wednesday, as reported by Reuters.“

The response of our forces was swift and appropriate. The attack was repulsed and the attackers neutralized,” defence ministry representative, Didier Badjeck, announced, cited by the news agency. The country’s official reaffirmed the number of Boko Haram members killed and announced another attack that took place overnight. The number of victims currently remains unknown. Nigeria has seen an upsurge in violence since April linked to the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram. The insurgency has left more than 13,000 dead and 1.5 million displaced people since 2009.