Several feared killed as Boko Haram seizes army base in Borno

Several people were feared killed on Saturday as Boko Haram Islamist militants seized a town and key multinational military base in Baga, Borno State, officials and eyewitnesses said, reports BBC.

A senator in Borno State told BBC that troops had abandoned the base after it was attacked on Saturday.

Residents of Baga, who fled by boat to neighbouring Chad, said many people had been killed and the town set ablaze.

Baga, scene of a Nigerian army massacre in 2013, was the last town in the Borno North area under government control.

It hosted the base of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger.

Set up in 1998 to fight trans-border crime in the Lake Chad region, the force more recently took on Boko Haram.

Residents who fled to Chad said they had woken to heavy gunfire as militants stormed Baga early on Saturday, attacking from all directions.

They said they had decided to flee when they saw the multi-national troops running away.

Maina Maaji Lawan, senator for Borno North, told BBC World Service civilians had run “helter skelter” – “some into the forest, some into the desert”.

Communications with the town were cut off and exact information about casualty numbers could not be confirmed, he said.

“We are very dispirited,” the senator added.

Confirming that the military had abandoned the base, he said people’s frustration knew “no bounds” over the apparent fact that the military had not fought back.

“There is definitely something wrong that makes our military abandon their posts each time there is an attack from Boko Haram,” the senator said.

Meanwhile, a blast suspected to be from an improvised explosive device (IED) on Sunday claimed two lives in Dahlehi community in the Maiha Local Government Area of Adamawa.

Mohammed Jibrilla, the chairman of the local government, confirmed the development in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola.

He said the incident occurred when some youths lit fire to warm themselves because of harmatan cold but mistakenly added a leather object they picked by the roadside containing a strange object.

He said the leather object suspected to be an abandoned IED exploded, killing two of the youths.

“The development was followed by an explosion which killed one person on the spot while the second died shortly before admission at the Yola Specialist Hospital.

“Two other injured youths are now on admission in the hospital.”

Jibrilla advised the public to be vigilant and to report any strange object to the authorities.

Maiha Local Government Area was one of the local government areas recovered recently from insurgents by the military.

When contacted, the Adamawa State police public relations officer, Othman Abubakar, a DSP, confirmed the incident but did not give details.