Boko Haram Kills 12 as Military Evacuates Civilians

This comes even as the Nigerian army was evacuating citizens from the area, when the group slit the throats of the deceased.

According to military sources, the Islamist group has been driven out of much of the huge swathe of territory they controlled at the start of the year.

This has been attributed to the concerted efforts by troops from Nigeria, neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

The town of Gwoza, in mountainous terrain, was one of the last places to fall, on March 27th, and there remain pockets of Boko Haram activity in the area, security sources say.

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"Just as troops were trying to evacuate some civilians from the hills so as to safeguard them from a planned air strike, some Boko Haram attacked them and slit the throats of 12 people," said the military source.

Jonas Musa, a victim whose parents died in the same, said that soldiers had moved one wave of people from the hills around Gwoza, but before they could go back for the second, the attackers struck.

Failure to crush Boko Haram or protect civilians was one reason President Goodluck Jonathan lost an election on March 28th to Muhammadu Buhari. Boko Haram, fighting to establish an Islamic state, has killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds during its six-year-old insurgency

Buhari has pledged to spare no effort in crushing the militants after he is sworn in on May 29.

He said on Tuesday he would do everything he can to rescue more than 200 girls abducted by the group a year ago from a school in the village of Chibok, but that he could not promise to find them.

By Musalia Wycliffe

Source: Reuters