Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon despite ‘defeated’ claims

Maiduguri, Nigeria | AFP | Boko Haram fighters stormed a village in northeast Nigeria and murdered two civilians, while six people were killed in an attack in northern Cameroon, a local resident and security sources told AFP on Monday.

The attacks came as Nigeria’s military again maintained the jihadists had been defeated, and that its repeated raids and suicide bombings were “a sign of weakness”.

At least 20,000 people have been killed in nearly nine years of violence and more than 2.6 million made homeless, triggering a humanitarian crisis across the Lake Chad region.

Bulama Bukar said Boko Haram fighters stormed his village, Alau-Kofa, about 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) on Sunday, firing guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

“Two people were burnt alive and the whole village was burnt, along with our food,” he told AFP.

Bukar, whose father was shot in the leg during the attack, said the jihadists “specifically came to steal our cattle” but were forced to abandon the herds when soldiers arrived.

“Last Wednesday they attacked the village, killed three people and took away 50 cattle. And now they came back,” he added.

A security source 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) away in the Borno state capital Maiduguri, confirmed Bukar’s account.

“It is part of the fightback strategy by the terrorists, who are facing mounting pressure from the military,” he said.

Another security source in Cameroon said “six people were killed and the attackers burnt down more than 100 houses” in the village of Hitawa, at about 11:00 pm on Sunday.

– Repeated claims –

Nigeria’s military said last week they had cleared the Sambisa Forest in Borno state of Boko Haram fighters — just over a year after making a similar claim.

Major General Rogers Ibe Nicholas, leading operations against the jihadists, was reported as saying on Monday that the Islamic State affiliate was “completely defeated”.

Asked about the claim, he told AFP: “In the Sambisa Forest where we have them, we have completely defeated them.”

The military was “taking them on wherever they go outside that area, he added. He attributed Sunday’s attack in Alau-Kofa to “criminals who came to steal goats”.

At a meeting with the military and security agencies in Maiduguri, Nigeria’s Information Minister Lai Mohammed said: “The last phase of the war with Boko Haram is now on.

“The military is punching deep into the enclaves of the insurgents,” he said, adding that the group was only able to mount “cowardly attacks on soft targets”.

“That, in itself, is a sign of weakness,” he added.