Boko Haram insurgents in the town of Bama, Borno State, have
slaughtered their wives as Nigerian soldiers continue to rout them in
the North East. Some of them later moved to Gwoza, another Borno town,
where they vowed to defend the capital of their so-called Islamic
Caliphate with the last drop of their blood, theAgency France Presse
(AFP)reports.
Witnesses who recounted the massacres said that the insurgents feared
they would be killed by advancing soldiers or separated from their
wives when they flee the town.
"Consequently, they killed their wives so that the women would not get
remarried to unbelievers if their husbands die in the fierce battles
with Nigerian soldiers," said a witness who had just arrived in
Maiduguri from Bama, a major battlefront in the continuing military
operations to dislodge the insurgents from Yobe, Adamawa and Borno.
According to the report, the insurgents told their ill-fated wives:
"We will not spare anyone of you because if unbelievers marry you,
when we get to heaven, there is no way we can meet again. So we are
doing this so that we can meet in heaven."
The terrorists said they would not allow their wives to be married to
'infidels', the report said.
Nigeria's military, along with forces from neighbouring Cameroon, Chad
and Niger, have claimed huge victories over the insurgents in recent
weeks but defenceless civilians still face serious threats.
Boko Haram fighters have received word of a military assault on Bama,
formerly an Islamist stronghold in Borno State.
The insurgents had decided to flee to the nearby town of Gwoza before
the troops' arrival but they first decided to kill their wives so that
nobody would remarry them.
Boko Haram forcibly married scores of women in Bama after seizing it
in September. Nigeria's military announced the recapture of the town
on Monday.
Witnesses who were taken under military protection this week to
Borno's capital, Maiduguri, 73 kilometres (45 miles) away, said the
killing of women began 10 days before Bama was liberated.
The Islamists said if they kill their wives, "they would remain pious
until both of them meet again in heaven, where they would re-unite,"
said Salma Mahmud, another witness.
"He informed them of the situation and the consequence of the takeover
of the town by the advancing troops. He warned them that when soldiers
killed them, they would take their wives back to the society where
they would be forced to marry and live with infidels. The commander
said it would be better for them to kill their wives and send them to
heaven," the mother-of-seven said.
A number of women were shot dead in front of the commander's house,
the report said.
Nigeria's national security spokesman, Mike Omeri, told AFP he would
try to verify the reports while the military could not immediately be
reached for comment.
Boko Haram regroups, return to liberated towns
Diehard members of Boko Haram in Borno State have allegedly been
regrouping in the last few days even as they have returned to the
border town of Gamboru-Ngala where they have killed at least 11
persons, security sources said.
A soldier, who confirmed this to newsmen in Maiduguri but pleaded for
anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to press, said the
gunmen attacked Gamboru town in the evening of Wednesday.
"We heard some Boko Haram returned to Gamboru and attacked the place",
said the soldier. "The insurgents, according to the information,
killed about 11 people who just returned from Fotokol, a neighbouring
Cameroonian town about three kilometres away", the source added.
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday in Damaturu, the Yobe State
capital, assured the people of the North East that the federal
government was committed to completely wiping out the Boko Haram sect
from both the zone and the entire country.
The president, who was in the state for the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) presidential campaign rally, stated that the country was yet to
be completely rid of the insurgents because some of them live among
the people.
Speaking earlier when the PDP campaign train paid a courtesy visit to
the emir of Damaturu, Alhaji Shehu Hashemu II, Jonathan condoled with
the people of Yobe and families that lost relations to the insurgency.
--Agency Report
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