The military, yesterday, raised alarm that following the new
onslaught by Nigerian troops to reclaim seized communities from Boko Haram
terrorists in the North East, the insurgents have resorted to using women and
children as human shields in order to halt or slow down the troops’ advance.
The alarm came a day after the Boko Haram captured another
town, Maiha in Adamawa State.
“In most cases,
children and teenagers are forced to be in the forefront in the battle against
the Nigerian troops through ambushing and suicide bombing; and there are
established cases of women and children getting involved in terrorist acts like
recent bombings in schools.
“On several occasions,
the Nigerian military has captured small children who were forced to take up
arms against the state with some of them behaving abnormally due to
indoctrination and inducement through the use of hard drugs.”
The security source
added: “We are being cautious in abiding by the rules of engagement even when
we are aware that the militants recruit children for spying on us and pushing
them to engage in hostilities against innocent citizens and the troops.
“Most of the children,
especially teenagers were recruited through abduction, kidnapping and
enticement with money after which they undergo brainwashing and combat
training. Those that are unwilling to cooperate are punished or summarily
executed.”
Reliable sources
further suggested that insurgents have relied on the knowledge that Nigerian
troops have a responsibility to observe strict rules of engagement and also
avoid a situation whereby patriotic citizens caught in the crossfire of
conflict will lose their lives.
Military lost men while avoiding child-soldiers— Source
“We have lost our men
in the battle-field while we tried to avoid shooting children and teenagers who
are forced to confront us. How do you expect us to arrest a child with a gun?
Do we accord such an armed under-age combatant with the status of a child deserving
of protection under the rules of engagement?
“It may become
inevitable that some collateral damage may be recorded if we get the orders,
especially because Boko Haram elements were using civilians as human shields to
continue to gain undue advantages in the current battle in the North East.
“However, much as
troops are determined to avoid collateral damage, it has become inevitable to
be decisive with armed underage combatants and female suicide bombers with the
situation degenerating by the day.
“The military will no
longer tolerate a situation where insurgents use human shield to gain undue
advantage especially now that majority of Nigerians have demanded that a full
scale war be declared by government in response to Boko Haram,” the source
declared.
Boko Haram captures another Adamawa town
Meanwhile, Boko Haram
has expanded the territory it controls in Adamawa State after it overran the
town of Maiha on Monday. The group had earlier renamed two towns it captured in
Adamawa and Borno as part of its declared caliphate in the North-East of the
country. Mubi, in Adamawa was renamed ‘Madinatul Islam’, meaning the “City of
Islam,” after an October 29 invasion, while Gwoza in Borno was renamed “Darul
Hikma” meaning “House of Wisdom”.
Maiha is about 25
kilometres from Mubi, the commercial town captured by the insurgents in Adamawa
last week and about 200km from Yola, the state capital.
It was gathered from
residents that before the town eventually fell to the insurgents, it was
already a shadow of itself as commercial and social activities were paralyzed
as people had deserted the town due to its proximity to Mubi.
Residents also claimed
seeing many soldiers running away from the area with some of them hitch-hiking
in residents’ vehicles. The soldiers reportedly told the residents that if the
insurgents caught up with them, it would lead to instant death.
A fleeing resident,
Kabir Musa, in a telephone interview with an online news medium, Premium Times, said “the insurgents started trooping into the town around 2:30
p.m. and engaged troops stationed at Kosha before advancing to the main town of
Maiha. The soldiers, who advanced to the area in their bid to recapture Mubi,
started running away as the insurgents overran the entire town.”
Another resident of
the town, Garba Baba, said some fleeing soldiers begged him to assist them with
civilian clothes so they would not be traced by the insurgents. The soldiers,
he said, even threw their guns into the bush.
“The fleeing soldiers
asked us to give them our clothes so that they can camouflage and escape from
the area safely as some of them discarded their weapons in the bush. A lot of
discarded weapons are currently lying in the bush,” Mr. Baba, who also fled
Maiha, said.
He said the insurgents
did not encounter any challenge from Nigerian troops similar to what happened
when the insurgents captured Mubi.
According to him, “the
insurgents did not encounter any challenge as they stormed the town in APCs and
Toyota Hilux vans, firing shots into the soldiers’ directions , and chanting Allahu Akbar. The Boko Haram insurgents had ordered us not to run, saying
that they were not after civilians but soldiers and other security people.”
Another resident still
trapped in Maiha, Dauda Mallam, said: “Many of the residents fled into the
bush, particularly soldiers. Some of them may have been killed by bullets. The
insurgents also hoisted their flags in strategic places in the town.”
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