Nigeria’s air force on Friday said it had lost
another helicopter in the restive northeast, after
Boko Haram rebels raided two more towns and
vigilantes and hunters clawed back a key militant
stronghold.
The second crash in a week happened late
Thursday in Yola, the capital of Adamawa, which
is one of three states that has been under
emergency rule since May last year.
While there was no immediate indication that the
armed Islamist movement was responsible for the
crash, there has been an increase in Boko Haram
activity in the state in recent weeks.
Boko Haram has reportedly taken over more than
two dozen towns in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe
states, including the commercial hub of Mubi,
some 200 kilometres (125 miles) from Yola.
Last week, the extremists, who have been waging
a five-year insurgency to create a hardline Islamic
state, renamed Mubi “Madinatul Islam” or “City of
Islam” in Arabic, residents said.
Nigeria’s chief of army staff, Major General
Kenneth Minimah, told a Senate defence
committee on Thursday that the loss of territory
was “painful” but promised that troops would
recapture lost ground.
- Vanguard.
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