Boko Haram: Military Tracks Phone Signal From Niger Republic. Telephone signals that were probably meant for the dreaded Islamic militants, Boko Haram, had been tracked to neighbouring Niger, suggesting they may have been directed from there, says a top Military officer attached to the 7th Division of the Nigeria Army in Maiduguri, Borno State. A top official of the United States surveillance team who also spoke with our Correspondent from Niger Republic, stressed that it was difficult to say who exactly the phone signals were meant for. “But the telephone signals were very strong and were also coming from Niger Republic and directed to the North Eastern part of Nigeria, precisely Chibok part of Borno State,” the official said. Brigadier General M.Y. Ibrahim, the new General Officer Commanding the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army located at Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri, confirmed the development but declined further details. The Commanding Officer used the opportunity to dismiss the report in some sections of the media (not the UNION) that angry soldiers on Thursday stormed his office to demand that he pays their allowances and reinstate motorbikes to transport them and members of their families within the barrack. He said there was nothing like that. Maj. General Chris Olukolade, the spokesperson of the Nigerian Military, had earlier described the alleged second mutiny as a fabrication. The source added that security at the Boko Haram compound, if there was such a place, was apparently exceedingly poor and American espionage had been able to unload their camp. The Commanding Officer added that late Saturday night about 3.15am, suspected Islamist Boko Haram gunmen attacked three villages in northern Nigeria, killing 28 people and burning houses to the ground in a pattern of violence that had become almost a daily occurrence. “The most deadly was in the town of Kerenua, near the Niger border. Scores of militants opened fire on residents, killing 20, and burned houses, police said.” He added that there was another attack in the small village of Kubur Viu, a few miles from Chibok. The police source confirmed the attack and the death toll. The attackers were said to have been repelled before they could cause severe havoc, even as over 15 members of the sect were killed by soldiers. Last Saturday, a suicide bombing meant for the TV screening of a football match in Jos, Plateau State, killed three people before the bomber reached the target. The bomber approached the Jos Viewing Centre while people were watching Real Madrid play Atletico Madrid, but he failed to get there before his car exploded, a local journalist at the scene, Mohammed Shittu, said. Also, there were three attacks Thursday on villages in remote parts of Borno state, the epicentre of Boko Haram’s increasingly bloody struggle for an Islamic kingdom in religiously mixed Nigeria. One took place right next to Chibok, by the Cameroon border, from where more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted last month. Since the girls’ abduction on 14 April, at least 450 civilians have been killed by the group, a count by Reuters shows. A spate of bombings in northern and central Nigeria has killed hundreds of civilians, including two attacks in the capital Abuja and one in the central city of Jos on Tuesday, in which 118 people died. President Goodluck Jonathan was in South Africa on Saturday to discuss ways of tackling the Islamist insurgency across the continent with other African heads of state. Nigeria and its neighbours say Boko Haram, which has killed thousands of people in its five-year-old insurgency in Nigeria, threatens the security of the entire region. The insurgents initially attacked mostly security forces and government officials after they launched their uprising in Borno state’s capital Maiduguri in 2009. When Jonathan ordered an offensive a year ago to flush them out, civilians formed vigilance groups to help, making them targets of the militants. Last week, Nigeria accepted help from the United States, Britain, France and China and about 80 US troops had arrived in Chad to start a mission to try to free the schoolgirls, who are still. The Union.
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 20:17:54 +0000
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