Military, Boko Haram battle for border town

Armed Boko Haram men returned to Gamboru/Ngala, near a Cameroon border, in North-East Borno State yesterday, in a push to annex the area, resulting in heavy fighting with Nigerian military troops. This left scores dead, a security source said.

The source said some Boko Haram fighters had attacked a military base and police station in the town in the early hours of yesterday apparently to test the preparedness of troops in the area barely four months after the first attack which left nearly 200 people dead.

“Our men engaged the terrorists when they came, and succeeded in gunning many of them down. But it was as if the insurgents were just sent as guinea pigs to test the might of our men. Many of them came later with determination to overrun the town,” the source stated. The fighting lasted for about five hours, he added.
The fierce fighting, which continued till most part of yesterday, forced many residents to flee into neighbouring Cameroon communities.Continue...

One of the fleeing residents, Usman Aliyu, said the insurgents arrived Gamboru at about 5:15a.m, while people were in the mosque observing the early morning prayers. “We started hearing gunshots and people started fleeing their houses.

We realised the shooting was around the military base and police barrack, that was how many of us were able to escape,” he told Daily Sun from Cameroon, where he has now taken refuge with over 100 other people.
Usman said the Cameroonian were welcoming, as they allowed them passage into the communities without hitches. He also said some Nigerian soldiers, who fled the battleground, were also seen on the Cameroonian soil.
Another fleeing resident, who preferred not to be named, said he saw many corpses on the outskirts of the town.

“I was scared because I did not know initially the attack was as bad as that until I saw corpses. I would not know if these corpses were Boko Haram members, civilians or soldiers. How can I wait to confirm that when shooting is going on?” he asked on phone, saying he was only concerned about his safety.
He said he was only lucky to escape, while expressing regret his brother may not be lucky. “I left him behind because he could not run; he has been sick for three days,” he disclosed.

The attack on Gamboru/Ngala comes after the town was almost entirely destroyed in May, in a devastating assault that also left more than 300 people killed and prompted outrage at the lack of military response.

Yesterday’s attack by a heavily armed contingent of the terror sect marked the second time Boko Haram fighters targeted and seized parts of the town. In the latest operation, the insurgents first attacked and sacked an army barrack in Ngala before proceeding to Gamboru, about three kilometers away. The sect took over the town without resistance from Nigerian troops.

In a response to the attacks, the Nigerian Air Force jet later dropped a massive bomb in the middle of Gamboru after hovering for several minutes in the air. The jet then left while the militants began a house-to-house raid in Gamboru.

A contingent of Nigerian troops was later seen massing close to a bridge earlier destroyed by insurgents during their first attack on Gamboru. A security source told SaharaReporters that Boko Haram desperately wanted to seize full control of Gamboru/Ngala because the extensive area offered great strategic advantages.

“If they completely capture the township, Boko Haram will be able to use it to transact economic and military business,” said the source.

He further explained: “The township will enable them [to]freely move arms into Nigeria to fortify their control of the seized territories they have declared an Islamic Caliphate.”

Boko Haram, which had been blamed for more than 10,000 deaths in a five-year-old uprising, had in recent weeks sought to take over a number of towns in Borno State, shifting from hit-and-run tactics to an apparent holding strategy.

The group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, declared in a video obtained by AFP on Sunday that the town of Gwoza, South-West of Gamboru/Ngala, was now under an Islamic caliphate.

In a video released, Shekau stated that his group did not recognise Nigeria. Instead, he declared that the sect had established a caliphate or Islamic geo-political entity. Among towns and areas under the sect’s control are Gwoza and Marte in Borno State, Buni Yadi, in Yobe State, and Madagali, in Adamawa State.

However, a top military source, who did not want his name in print, dismissed the claim that Nigerian troops fled to Cameroon. He said on the contrary, “some of them may have retreated after an order by their commanders to review the operation.”

The source, a military officer said the troops in Gamboru are “living up to their billing,” adding that it was too early to ascertain the casualty figure. “The fighting is still ongoing, our men are living up to their billing,” he said.
Boko Haram had intensified attacks to take over communities in the border area after it was pushed out of Damboa by the military early August. It moved to Gwoza, South-East of Borno on August 6, where it claimed it established an Islamic Caliphate, and moving eastward to annex Gamboru yesterday.

The twin towns of Gamboru/Ngala, in Ngala Local Government Area, are known for high commercial activities and gateway for bringing livestock to the country from Chad, another neighbouring nation.