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Nigeria Fighter Jets Jobs Bomb Town Held by Boko Haram
[AnNahar] Nigerian fighter jets have bombed the northeast town of Malam Fatori, controlled by Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... Islamists, the military said Thursday. Witnesses and some media reports said troops and air force planes from neighboring Chad were involved in the operation on Nigerian soil but Abuja neither confirmed nor denied the claim. There was no initial word on casualties or whether Boko Haram fighters had fled the area. "Malam Fatori is within the area of operation covered by the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) of which Chad has always been a part," defense front man Chris Olukolade told AFP in a text message. "The Nigerian air force has also been conducting (an) air mission there for two days now," he added. "It is all part of the ongoing efforts against terrorism." The MNJTF was set up more than a decade ago to combat smuggling in the remote region but as the Nigerian Islamist insurgency in the area intensified, the mandate of the force changed. Residents in the town of Bosso, which lies next to Malam Fatori but across the border in Niger, said the bombardment began early on Wednesday and lasted for several hours. "At around 8:00 am (0700 GMT) we started seeing three military jets encircling Malam Fatori and soon after (they) began dropping bombs," said Idrissa Ari, a Bosso resident. Reaching locals inside Malam Fatori is difficult given the collapse of the mobile phone network on the Nigerian side of the border. The authorities in N'Djamena did not respond to requests seeking comment on their alleged involvement in the operation. The Boko Haram uprising has become a regional crisis, with the four directly affected countries -- Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... , Chad, Niger and Nigeria -- agreeing to boost cooperation to contain the threat. The African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... 's annual summit in the Æthiopian capital Addis Ababa is this week expected to focus heavily on the threat from Boko Haram. AU chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has called the insurgency "a threat to the whole continent". A brutal attack this month on the Nigerian town of Baga, near Chad and Niger, killed several hundred people and raised fresh questions about the Nigerian military's capacity to face Boko Haram alone. An aerial bombardment inside Nigeria by the Chadian air force, if confirmed, would mark a major development in bilateral security cooperation. While it was unclear whether Chadian troops had begun operating in Nigeria, security sources said soldiers from Chad had arrived in Cameroon ahead of an expected campaign against the Islamists. "The first Chadian soldiers were deployed yesterday (Wednesday) in Fotokol," a Cameroonian security source told AFP, requesting anonymity. Fotokol is just 500 meters (0.3 miles) from the Nigerian town of Gamboru, currently controlled by Boko Haram. A senior Cameroonian officer said the deployment was part of "preliminary action" for the Chadian army to take on Boko Haram alongside troops from Yaounde. The forces of Evil control large parts of Nigeria's Borno state, which shares borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Meanwhile, ...back at the hanging, Butch continued with his last words, trying not to repeat himself too often...... local sources in three areas of Cameroon's far north reported that 10 people had their throats slit by suspected Boko Haram snuffies this week. Posted by: trailing wife 2015-01-30 |
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