The military on Wednesday banned the use of Thuraya satellite phones in Borno State, a step, it said, was designed to stop Islamist militants communicating.
President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states on May 14, ordering extra troops in to try to crush Islamist sect, Boko Haram, whose insurgency has killed thousands of people in the past three years.
Authorities cut the mobile network in Borno State in the same week to disrupt Boko Haram’s operations.
It is the most determined offensive yet against Boko Haram, whose nickname translates as ‘Western education is sinful’.
Borno State military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, said the ban was imposed after evidence emerged that Boko Haram used satellite phones to coordinate attacks on civilians, including in two school attacks in the past week.
Suspected Islamist militants fired on a school in Maiduguri on Tuesday, killing nine students. The attack followed one in the city of Damaturu, also under a state of emergency that killed seven pupils and two teachers.
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