Nigeria military intensifies campaign against militants
Iran Press TV
Sun May 19, 2013 9:27PM GMT
The military in Nigeria has intensified its campaign against the militants in the country's northeast to retake the seized territories.
Government forces blocked supply routes to northeastern Borno State and enforced a 24-hour curfew on Sunday.
The military also carried out airstrikes on militants' strongholds in remote parts of Borno. The campaign has spread to Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern state, which is also Boko Haram's traditional home base.
According to residents, soldiers closed roads heading out of Maiduguri and blocked supply routes to remote towns.
"There is a huge build-up of trucks loaded with essential commodities... along the Baga road on the way out of Maiduguri to the northern part of the state," AFP quoted resident Ibrahim Yahaya as saying.
"The drivers said they have been prevented by the military from going northward," he added.
The phone network in Borno has collapsed and supplies are also running short in Maiduguri.
On Saturday, the army imposed a 24-hour curfew in 12 neighborhoods of Maiduguri.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Defense Ministry has said that 14 militants as well as three soldiers were killed in the army's offensive against the militants.
"…Altogether three soldiers died, while seven are wounded and are being treated in a military medical facility," the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier on Sunday, Brigadier General Chris Olukolade, the director of Defense Information, said the fighting against the militants would continue "as long as it takes" to achieve its main objectives.
On May 7, Boko Haram militants launched attacks on military barracks, a prison, and police stations in the town of Bama in northeastern Nigeria, killing 55 people and helping 105 inmates escape from the prison.
Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly gun and bomb attacks in various parts of Nigeria since 2009.
Over the past four years, violence in the north of Africa's most populous country has claimed the lives of 3,600 people, including killings by the security forces.
MR/AS
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
