Boko Haram, one
of the world’s most notorious terrorist group seem to be running out of food
supply probably as a result of the over 200 girls whom they kidnapped and are still holding hostage.
This has led the group to steal food items and loot local communities close to
the Sambisa Forest Saturday Punch reports.
Residents of
these communities explained that the rate at which the insurgents stole their foodstuffs was
unprecedented, noting that the pressure to feed the abducted girls might have
contributed to the desperation of the insurgents to steal and kill the
villagers in the process.
One of the
villagers, Bukar Umar, who resides in Kamuyya village in Borno State, told one of our correspondents
that though it was normal for the insurgents to ask communities to contribute
money towards “God’s work,’’ they were usually satisfied when communities
raised money for them.
He, however, said the insurgents
in recent times had stepped up their activities by invading their communities
and carting away food items.
With the
pressure on Nigerian soldiers to clamp down on the Islamic sect, it was learnt
that the insurgents no longer felt safe to go to markets to buy food items for fear of
being arrested.
Some of the
insurgents recently met their waterloo in Madagali, Adamawa State, where they
were given up by a local food vendor from whom they had planned to buy
foodstuffs.
Consequently, members of a vigilance group
pounced on them and killed over 70 of them while seven others were reportedly
handed over to the police.
The vigilantes
acted after they were tipped by the local food vendor that the insurgents were
coming to get food before going for a major operation in a neighbouring village.
A Madagali
resident, who did not want his name mentioned, had said, “The vigilance group
mobilised, laid ambush and waited patiently for the insurgents.
“As soon as the
insurgents, numbering over 100, showed up in the village to pick up their favourite meals,
the vigilantes attacked them, killing most of them in a hail of bullets.”
Security
personnel, during the week, also repelled attacks by the terrorists on Kubla, a
border town between Adamawa and Borno states.
A security
source said, “The heavily armed terrorists arrived in Kubla and started burning
houses and stealing foodstuff, until a contingent of the military was mobilised
to confront them.
“The soldiers
engaged the militants in a fierce exchange of gunfire to repel them,” the source said.
The source, who
did not disclose his name because he was not authorised to provide details of
the attacks, added that the insurgent had set to extend their stealing spree to
Taraba State.
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