SaharaReporters has just learned that
insurgents belonging to the dreaded
Islamist group Boko Haram last
Wednesday abducted more than 20
women, most of them young girls, in
Lassa, Borno State.
A member of the community, Daniel
Ibrahim, made the disclosure in a
telephone call to SaharaReporters.
They [Boko Haram] abducted more than
20 girls from our town and killed many
people, mostly old men and women,”
said Mr. Ibrahim.
Mr. Ibrahim, who said he survived the
attacks, revealed that the Islamist
fighters had been advancing towards
Lassa since late November, but had met
stiff resistance from determined local
fighters until Wednesday.
He said the Islamist insurgents attacked
the town last Wednesday in a wave of
hundreds of fighters with a variety of
heavy weaponry, including tanks and
explosives. They were finally able to
overwhelm the local opposition and
capture the town.
“They burnt almost half of the town
before they left.
Those of us who were lucky fled, but
they massacred aged ones and younger
men they could catch,” the informant
stated.
He said the town fell to the insurgents
because the residents’ appeals to
security agencies to deploy more troops
and to step up land and air operations
were ignored.
“That’s why the town is now in the
hands of Boko Haram,” he said.
A senior military officer attached to the
7th Division of the Nigerian Army based
in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State,
confirmed that the military was aware
of the development in Lassa.
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