declared a 24-hour curfew Saturday in
Maiduguri, seen as the "spiritual home" of
violent sect, Boko Haram.
According to the Associated Press, "A statement
Saturday on behalf of Lt. Col. Sagir Musa
named 11 areas of Maiduguri where people
must remain inside their homes until further
notice. Musa said it was part of the military's
push since President Goodluck Jonathan issued
an emergency decree Tuesday allowing soldiers
to arrest people at will and take over buildings
suspected to house extremists in Adamawa,
Borno and Yobe states."
Soldiers arrested some 65 suspected extremists
who were "attempting to infiltrate Maiduguri"
after military strikes on camps in a nearby
forest reserve, military spokesman Brig. Gen.
Chris Olukolade said in a statement Saturday.
Olukolade said soldiers killed another 10
suspected extremists in Maiduguri's Gamboru
neighborhood, one of the areas now under
curfew.
There was no independent confirmation of the
arrests nor the killings. An Associated Press
journalist in Maiduguri saw roadblocks manned
by soldiers in the city, as well as trucks lined up
outside the city, apparently blocked by the
military from entering.
Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, once was
home to the main mosque of Boko Haram.
Nigeria's Islamic extremist insurgency grew out
of a 2009 riot led by Boko Haram members in
Maiduguri that ended in a military and police
crackdown that killed some 700 people. The
group's leader died in police custody in an
apparent summary execution, fueling dissent
that broke into the open in 2010 with the
targeted killings of government officials,
security agents and religious leaders who spoke
out against the sect. The killings gradually
morphed into the large-scale extremist network
that is plaguing Nigeria today.
Soldiers backed by jet fighters and military
helicopters have flooded into the northeast
since Jonathan's order Tuesday. On Thursday,
soldiers attacked suspected camps sheltering
insurgents in a forest reserve south of
Maiduguri. At least 21 suspected extremists
died in the attack, an official told the AP on
Friday. The military said it destroyed the
extremists' equipment and gasoline supplies.
On Saturday, Olukolade asked the public to
inform authorities if they saw anyone
attempting to gather large quantities of
gasoline.
"Some of the fleeing insurgents from various
camps have been noted to be in search of fuel,"
the brigadier general said.
This new military campaign comes on top of a
previous massive deployment of soldiers and
police to the region. That deployment failed to
stop violence by Islamic extremists, who have
killed more than 1,600 people since 2010,
according to an AP count. It also has seen
soldiers arrest, torture and even kill civilians.
No comments:
Post a Comment