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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Boko Haram Have 'Surrounded' Nigeria's Maiduguri, Say Elders |
| 2014-09-12 |
| [AnNahar] Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... fighters have surrounded the northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... n city of Maiduguri and are preparing an imminent takeover, an influential regional group claimed on Thursday, calling for military reinforcements. "They have completely surrounded the city of Maiduguri," said the Borno Elders Forum, which is made up of retired senior civilian and military officials as well as community leaders. "It is apparent that their imminent target is to take the city of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital," they said in a statement. Borno, Yobe and Adamawa regions have been under a state of emergency since May last year but despite the Nigerian army driving Boko Haram out of Maiduguri, thousands of people have died in the countryside and many more have been forced to flee. "We wish to call on the federal government to urgently fortify in and around the city of Maiduguri," the elders added. "The turbans... are nursing the ambition of attacking the city in all directions. There is credible local intelligence information to that effect." The elders said that half of Borno state's 4.1 million population was now living in temporary accommodation in Maiduguri, where Boko Haram began as an anti-corruption movement in 2002. The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... says that more than 650,000 people across the northeast have fled their homes, while the United States has warned that any attack on Maiduguri could hit civilians further. Roads and bridges have been destroyed, schools shut and the economy blighted, with Maiduguri without mains electricity for the last three months. The elders warned of "starvation" given that subsistence farmers in the state had not been able to plant crops this year because of the chaos. Security analysts have warned that Nigeria's government was on the brink of losing control of the northeast and Maiduguri would be a major gain in its aim at creating a hardline Islamic state. The elders said the government needed to act, claiming the murderous Moslems were in control within reach of the city from the south and east after taking over swathes of territory elsewhere in the state. Boko Haram recently claimed to have taken over Bama, 70 kilometers (45 miles) from Maiduguri but the military has since said it has retaken the town. That followed a declaration by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in a video released on August 24 that another captured Borno town, Gwoza, was now part of an Islamic caliphate. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 Obviously more hashtags are needed. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2014-09-12 15:26 |
| #2 as Boko Haram, aka (Jama'at Izalatil Bidiawa Iqamatus Sunnah)slaughters its victims, the victims can have solace in that Kerry and Obama will say that this has nothing to do with Islam. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2014-09-12 14:12 |
| #1 It would appear that Boko Haram is just not as sexy as ISIS. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2014-09-12 11:17 |