Boko Haram crushed!

waltky · Dec 25, 2016

Boko Haram crushed...

Nigeria: Boko Haram is crushed, forced out of last enclave
Dec 24,`16 -- The Boko Haram extremist group has finally been crushed - driven from its last forest enclave with fighters on the run and no place to hide, Nigeria's president declared Saturday.

His victorious statement came as the Islamic State group, with which one faction of Boko Haram is allied, claimed a successful attack on an army barracks in northeast Nigeria's Yobe state "killed and wounded many." The communique on social media said the attack took place Thursday, the same day President Muhammadu Buhari said troops defeated Boko Haram in its Sambisa Forest stronghold in neighboring Borno state. It was an indicator that despite Buhari's announcement, Nigeria is unlikely to see an end soon to the deadly suicide bombings, village attacks and assaults on remote military outposts in northeastern Nigeria carried out by the country's homegrown Islamic extremist group. Already, there are reports that the insurgents have been regrouping in Taraba and Bauchi states, south of their northeastern stronghold in Borno state, and taking advantage of a decades-old conflict in central Nigeria between mainly Muslim nomadic cattle herders and sedentary Christian farmers.

In a statement, Buhari commended Nigerian troops for "finally entering and crushing the remnants of the Boko Haram insurgents at Camp Zero," which is located deep within the heart of Sambisa Forest. He announced the "long-awaited and most gratifying news of the final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave" and declared "the terrorists are on the run, and no longer have a place to hide." The Sambisa Forest was where Boko Haram was believed to be holding some of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in April 2014 from a school in the town of Chibok - a mass abduction that brought the Islamic extremists world attention and sparked an international social media campaign #BringBackOurGirls. "Further efforts should be intensified to locate and free our remaining Chibok girls still in captivity. May God be with them," Buhari said.

Nigerian President elect, Muhammadu Buhari, arrives for his Inauguration at the eagle square in Abuja, Nigeria. The Boko Haram extremist group has finally been crushed — driven from its last forest enclave with fighters on the run and no place to hide, Nigeria's president declared

Nigerian troops have freed thousands of Boko Haram captives this year, but none of the Chibok girls among 276 seized from a government boarding school. Dozens of girls escaped within hours of their abduction. In October, 21 Chibok girls were freed through negotiations between the government and Boko Haram, brokered by the Swiss government and the International Red Cross. In May, one Chibok girl escaped on her own. Some 197 remain missing.

The freed girls have indicated that several others have died in captivity from things like malaria and a snake bite. Boko Haram's seven-year Islamic uprising has killed more than 20,000 people, spread across Nigeria's borders, driven some 2.3 million people from their homes and created a massive humanitarian crisis. The U.N. has warned that 5.1 million people are in danger of starving in northeast Nigeria, including in areas too dangerous to reach because of Boko Haram ambushes.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-12-24-09-51-28
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Freed Chibok girls reunited with their families for Christmas
Sat, 24 Dec 2016 - More than 20 Chibok girls freed in Nigeria by Boko Haram reunite with their families for Christmas.

It is the girls' first return home since they were kidnapped from their school in Chibok in April 2014. The young women were freed in October after Switzerland and the International Red Cross made a deal with Boko Haram. Since then, the 21 girls have been held in a secret location for debriefing by the Nigerian government. One of the girls, Asabe Goni, 22, told Reuters news agency it was a "miracle" that she was home again. Helping her mother prepare for Christmas, she said she was excited to go to church on Christmas Day. "I never knew that I would return (home)," she said simply. "I had given up hope of ever going home."

The 21 Chibok girls released by the militant group Boko Haram have returned home for Christmas

Of the 276 students kidnapped, 197 are still reportedly missing, and negotiations for their release are under way. Many of the Chibok girls were Christian, but were encouraged to convert to Islam and to marry their kidnappers during their time in captivity. Ms Goni said some were whipped for refusing to marry, but otherwise they were well treated and fed, until food supplies recently ran short. After the deal in October, the girls' captors announced that any girl who wanted to be released should line up. Ms Goni was ill and too exhausted to move as the others scrambled into formation - but she soon learned she would be among the lucky few to leave.

Boko Haram 'ousted from forest bastion'

"I was surprised when they announced that my name was on the list," she said. Her joy was lessened, however, when she was forced to leave behind her cousin Margaret, with whom she had lived since childhood. The young woman was interviewed at her family's home in the northern city of Yola, surrounded by her father, stepmother, five siblings, and several neighbours. "Some of the other girls left behind started crying," Ms Goni said. "But the Boko Haram men consoled them, telling them that their turn to go home would come one day." Before the girls' release, there had only been one confirmed release of a student kidnapped from Chibok.

On 24 December, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari said the army had driven Boko Haram's militants from the last camp in their Sambisa forest stronghold. "The terrorists are on the run and no longer have a place to hide," Mr Buhari said in a statement. The army has been engaged for the last few weeks in a major offensive in the forest, a huge former colonial game reserve in north-eastern Borno state. There has been speculation that some of the Chibok girls are being held in the forest, after it was named by a small number of those who escaped. Mr Buhari said that efforts to find the remaining girls were being intensified.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-38427938
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Boko Haram crushed!

waltky Well-Known Member

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