Troops forced to retreat from mined B-Haram stronghold
(Nigeria) Nigerian troops were forced to retreat from Boko Haram's
Sambisa Forest stronghold in the restive northeast after a landmine blast
killed one soldier and three vigilantes, security sources said Thursday.
Military top brass said on Wednesday that soldiers were
conducting offensives "in some forest locations" in the area after it
was announced last week that operations were imminent, reports AFP.
The Sambisa Forest is located in the state of Borno, some 80
kilometres (50 miles) from the town of Chibok, from where more than 200
schoolgirls were kidnapped in April last year.
It has been claimed the 219 schoolgirls still being held
were initially kept in the former game reserve, although others have said they
may have been split up and moved to Chad or Cameroon.
Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade said in a statement that a
senior Boko Haram commander was killed, as well as a number of militants who
attacked a patrol.
"The operations especially in forest locations are
progressing in defiance of obstacles and landmines emplaced by the
terrorists," he added.
But progress has been severely hindered because of
improvised explosive devices, a civilian vigilante involved in the operation said in an account backed by a security source.
"Boko Haram have buried landmines all over the routes
leading to their camps in the forest, which is no doubt a huge obstacle
retarding the military offensive against them."
Troops withdrew just five kilometres from Boko Haram's main
camp in the densely forested area because of landmines.
"We decided to turn back since the route was unsafe. As
we were driving back, one of the vehicles carrying CJTF (Civilian Joint Task
Force) hit a mine," he added.
"A soldier and three CJTF were killed while another
soldier was injured. We trudged along and made it back to Bama yesterday
(Wednesday)."
The vigilante added: "There are no soldiers in Sambisa
right now. We all returned to Bama after the horrifying experience of
manoeuvring through minefields."
- Persistent threat -
There was no immediate response from the military, which
with its military coalition partners Chad, Niger and Cameroon has driven out
Boko Haram from captured towns in recent weeks.
"Boko Haram are in large numbers in Sambisa," said
the vigilante, who requested anonymity for security reasons.
"All their fighters who were pushed out of Bama, Dikwa,
Gwoza and Damboa (in Borno state) all moved to Boko Haram camps in
Sambisa," he added.
Details of the offensive came as a series of photographs
circulated on social media accounts linked to the Islamic State group of
heavily armed fighters, purportedly from Boko Haram.
No independent verification was possible but some of the
accounts said the images were released under the name "The Islamic State
in West Africa".
Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau pledged allegiance to IS
group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in March. The Middle Eastern militants
responded by urging Muslims to support the rebels in Nigeria.
Experts have seen the formal tie-up as a sign of weakness by
the Nigerian Islamists but warned not to write off the group, which continues
to mount smaller-scale attacks in the region.
According to residents of Kalabalge, who fled to the
Cameroon town of Fotokol, Boko Haram fighters have taken over the Borno state
town, which is near Nigeria's border with Chad.
Thousands of Shuwa Arabs -- who are from the same ethnic group
as many Chadian soldiers -- have been pushed out of villages in the area since
the Nigerian army seized the group's headquarters in Gwoza last month.
Resident Grema Gana said there were "light-skinned
fighters of north African extraction" in the militant ranks, adding that
Chadian forces operating in the area had detained some of them.
Another resident, who asked not to be named for his own
safety, said Chadian troops conducted an operation in the Kalabalge area on
Monday as Boko Haram had returned after being driven out.
He also said "some foreign fighters from north
Africa" were detained.
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