... 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...
, days after the Islamist sect was blamed for killing 20 villagers in raids in its northeastern stronghold.
"Troops pursued the Death Eaters to their camps and with air support about 50 bad boyz were potted in a shoot-out," army front man Sagir Musa told news hounds in Borno state capital Maiduguri.
"The villages have been rescued from the fangs of the hard boys. Troops are pursuing the remnants of the fleeing Death Eaters by blocking all possible exit routes," Musa added.
Boko Haram, which wants to impose Islamic law in northern Nigeria, and other splinter Islamist groups, are considered the biggest security threat in Nigeria, Africa's top oil exporter.
The military sometimes exaggerates its successes and plays down its own casualties and the deaths of civilians, residents of Borno and rights groups have said. Musa said the number of civilian casualties in the latest offensive was not known.
More than 160 people were killed in violence linked to Boko Haram last month - one of the bloodiest since President
Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
declared a state of emergency and a military crackdown in three northeastern states in May. A new army division was sent to Borno last month.
A civilian militia - often armed with no more than clubs and knives - has been operating against the Islamists in recent weeks, leading to the arrest of hundreds of them, the military says.
The vigilantes and their families have become targets and scores have been killed in Dire Revenge™ attacks.
Jonathan is under intense political pressure due to a split in his party and from a recently formed opposition coalition. He has been criticized for not quelling Boko Haram's insurgency, which has intensified under his leadership.
A military offensive ended Boko Haram's initial uprising in 2009, when the group's leader Mohammed Yusuf was killed in police custody, but the sect regrouped and came back stronger, launching a more committed insurgency nearly three years ago.