... 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...jihadists overran a military base in northeast Nigeria
... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border...
after a ferocious firefight, military and vigilante sources said Sunday, the second assault on the country's forces in two days.
The holy warriors on Saturday evening invaded a base holding hundreds of soldiers in Yobe state -- where they kidnapped over 100 girls from a school earlier this year -- in an attack that lasted for hours, a military source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Boko Haram bully boyz attacked troops of the 81 Division Forward Brigade at Jilli village in Geidam district. The bully boyz came in huge numbers around 7:30 pm (1830 GMT) and overran the base after a fierce battle that lasted till 9:10 pm," said the military source.
"The base had 734 troops. Currently the commander of the base and 63 soldiers have made it to Geidam (60 kilometers away) while the remaining 670 are being expected," he said.
"We don't know if there were any casualties among the troops. That will be known later," he said, adding that the base was new and the troops had recently arrived from Lagos, the commercial capital.
A leader of a local anti-jihadist militia said that the soldiers sustained casualties, but was unable to give a toll, attributing the attack to the Abu-Mus'ab al-Barnawi faction of Boko Haram, which is known for targeting Nigerian forces.
"We learned that they drove from Lake Chad through Gubio (in nearby Borno state) and attacked the base," he said.
Geidam resident Fannami Gana said that Boko Haram jihadists "overwhelmed" the troops.
"We don't know the details of what happened but we learnt they were overwhelmed by hundreds of Boko Haram button men," said Gana.
The attack on the base took place just days after Boko Haram fighters ambushed a military convoy in neighboring Borno state on Friday.
23 soldiers are missing after the ambush, in which the Nigerian military also lost several vehicles.
