"Helicopters Drop Arms, Food For Boko Haram" --Displaced Citizens Of Monguno

Displaced residents of Monguno, in Borno State, which was recently
taken over by Boko Haram, have said they saw helicopters dropping arms
and food items for the insurgents in the bushes.

The IDPs, who said they spent about 48 hours in the bush running
towards Maiduguri, expressed worry that the Boko Haram sect was not
the only ones involved in the insurgency, but that there are many
foreign fighters and some external supports.

Leader of the Nigeria Vigilante Group in Monguno, Muhammed Sani,50,
said he had, on several occasions, spotted unusual delivery of items
in big wooden boxes by air, and sacks being dropped in the bushes
around Marte and Monguno where Boko Haram terrorists were camped.

"Even during the attack on Monguno, there was an aircraft that came
but did not do anything, not even dropping a single bomb before it
left; then another one later came around the Monguno barracks and we
saw four men alighting from the aircraft, using a rope. The aircraft
left, but we doubt if they were soldiers.

"Even before then, some of my colleagues and I have been sighting
helicopters dropping items in sacks and some in boxes to them at the
camp of Boko Haram near Chikungudu and Kwalaram villages. Many
helicopters came to drop items packed in boxes and sacks to the Boko
Haram insurgents at a bush camp between Monguno and Marte; then we
would see the Boko Haram gunmen rushing to the spot to pick the
dropped items," he stated.

The displaced vigilante officials said those that attacked Monguno
comprised hundreds of foreigners who looked like Chadians.

"Many of them looked like Chadian Arabs - they were light-skinned with
coiled hair, and there were many young men from Monguno - who Boko
Haram had abducted when Nganzai was attacked last year - that were now
active members of the sect.

"While Boko Haram members that are former youths of Monguno were
leading other insurgents to attack Monguno town, the foreigners were
the ones engaging soldiers near the barracks," he explained.

Sani, who said he had lived in Monguno for the past 20 years, said he
fled amidst the hail of bullets when the terrorists became irritated
by his anti-bullet charms that rendered bullets ineffective. His shirt
and trousers were riddled by bullets, yet he remained unhurt, he said.
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