Boko Haram fighters on Wednesday clashed with Nigerian troops in the country’s remote northeast, forcing thousands to flee, after two other attacks that further undermined claims of a ceasefire.
Residents said insurgents first overran the town of Uba in Borno state before moving to try to take Mubi, a commercial hub in neighbouring Adamawa, using firepower including rocket-propelled grenades. “There is virtually not a single resident left in Mubi. Everybody has left to save their lives,” local resident Habu Saidu told AFP, as he trekked through the bush. “People in thousands left the town on foot because all roads have been blocked by soldiers and it is not possible to leave by road.”
Fighting was reported to be fiercest around the town’s military barracks. Nigeria’s government earlier this month announced that they had secured a ceasefire deal with Boko Haram and agreement to release 219 schoolgirls abducted from their Borno school in mid-April. But violence and further kidnappings have continued unabated.
Saidu said the insurgents, who want to create a hardline Islamic state in northern Nigeria, stormed the town in large numbers on motorcycles and four-wheel-drive vehicles. “Soldiers responded by opening fire and two military jets dropped bombs on Boko Haram positions. We left because it is no longer safe to stay,” he added.
Another resident, Muhammad Madani, said he saw Boko Haram fighters firing two RPGs from a black jeep before the air force jets arrived and dropped five bombs. “We saw the Boko Haram fighters. They kept saying they had come to fight the military and police and not civilians,” he added. “No one believes them. We know how they killed people in all the places they seized after assuring them they were not going to harm them... See Pics below and air your views as for the Government spreading news of ceasefire deals instead of standing to their responsibilities... Just remember this are Humans not Animals...
Credit: Vanguardngnr.com
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