Frustrations build after Boko Haram attack
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Residents of three villages fought off attacks by Boko Haram
- They claim to have killed more than 200 attackers
- The Nigerian military has been accused of not doing enough
Hundreds of Boko Haram
fighters stormed the villages of Menari, Tsangayari and Garawa in the
ethnic Shuwa-dominated Kalabalge District on Tuesday. Boko Haram -- the
group responsible for the kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls from the
same region -- was met with stiff resistance as locals put up a fierce
fight, witnesses said.
A month has passed since
the girls were kidnapped, and the Nigerian government has been accused
of not acting swiftly or efficiently enough to protect villages in the
region threatened by Boko Haram.
In the three villages
attacked Tuesday, gunmen arrived in dozens of all-terrain vans, armored
tanks and motorcycles, but villagers quickly mobilized and engaged the
attackers in a prolonged battle.
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"They attacked Menari and
killed around 60 people and burned some homes before proceeding to
Tsangayari and Garawa villages," resident Algoni Ahunna said.
When news of the attack filtered out, people trooped out from nearby villages carrying arms.
Locals seized an armored tank, three all-terrain vans and 90 motorcycles from the attackers, residents said.
"At Tsangayari and Garawa
they met a big surprise as residents engaged them in a fierce battle in
which over 200 of the Boko Haram fighters were killed. More than 150
were killed in Tsangayari," Ahunna said.
A lawmaker in Borno state's Parliament confirmed the incident.
"I received information
on the gallant action taken by the people in Kalabalge District in which
at least 200 Boko Haram gunmen were killed," said the lawmaker, who
asked not to be named for security reasons.
A relief worker in the area said he counted more than 100 bodies in Tsangayari alone.
"I believe the number of
the gunmen killed is up to 250," said the worker, who also asked not to
be named for fear of reprisals from Boko Haram.
It was the second defeat Boko Haram has suffered from locals in the area in over a month.
Scores of Boko Haram gunmen were killed by villagers in early April in a foiled raid, residents said.
The director general of
the National Orientation Agency, which acts as a communications arm of
the government, commended the villagers' actions, but defended the
military.
"The vigilante is a
common phenomenon in Nigeria -- it is not a new development," Mike Omeri
said. "They were able to do what they did because they had prior
information that these people were coming to attack them at a particular
time in the night and particular time of the day."
Omeri said he did not know how the villagers would have received that key information.
"The military cannot be
in every village at the same time -- like I said for emphasis, if the
military had not been on the ground sufficiently, perhaps the entire
northeast would have been overrun by now. Or the entire country would
have been overrun," he said.
Meanwhile, the military
was having problems among its ranks after 20 soldiers were killed in two
separate ambushes on Wednesday. One of those ambushes happened after
troops left Chibok, the village from which the girls were kidnapped.
According to military
sources, Nigerian soldiers upset over the deaths of their colleagues
opened fire on a convoy carrying a military commander. The commander
escaped unhurt, the military sources said.
"Soldiers have been
angry with the poor treatment they receive from their superiors in terms
of inadequate arms and poor allowances in their combat against Boko
Haram," a military source said. "The death of their colleagues was too
much for them to bear."
The Nigerian defense
spokesman, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, downplayed the incident as "an
internal issue that has been sorted out."
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