Boko Haram has seized Borno State town Baga , a key multinational military base , officials and eyewitnesses said yesterday .
Senator Mark in Lawan ( Borno North) said troops had
abandoned the base in the town of Baga after it was
attacked on Saturday by the insurgents
Residents of Baga , who fled by boat to neighbouring Chad ,
said many people had been killed and the town set ablaze .
Baga was the last town in the Borno North area under
government control .
It hosted the base of the Multi - National Joint Task Force
( MNJTF ), comprising troops from Nigeria , Chad and Niger.
Set up in 1998 to fight trans - border crime in the Lake Chad
region , the force more recently took on Boko Haram.
Boko Haram attacks towns and villages on an almost daily
basis , abducting people , including young boys and girls.
Residents who fled to Chad said they had woken to heavy
gunfire as militants stormed Baga early on Saturday ,
attacking from all directions .
They said they decided to flee when they saw the multi -
national troops running away .
Senator Lawan was quoted by BBC World Service as saying
civilians ran “ helter skelter – some into the forest , some into
the desert ” .
Communications with the town were cut off and exact
information about casualty numbers could not be confirmed ,
he said .
“ We are very dispirited , ” the senator added.
Confirming that the military had abandoned the base, he said
people ’ s frustration knew “ no bounds ” over the military’ s
failure to fight back .
“ There is definitely something wrong that makes our military
abandon their posts each time there is an attack from Boko
Haram , ” the senator said
Last week , Boko Harem abducted around 40 young
men from a village also in Borno State . A resident told
reporters that armed militants driving pickup trucks had
ordered villages to attend a sermon , then began picking out
men aged between 10 and 23 . The village lies close to a
forest where the group is believed to operate bases.
The capture of young men during raids on villages is
consistent with Boko Haram ’ s tactics , though much is still
unknown about the group’ s strategy beyond its oft - repeated
claim that it seeks to establish an Islamic state in northern
Nigeria .
Boko Haram is still holding in captivity more than 200
schoolgirls it abducted from their school in Chibok in Borno
State last April .
The abduction drew worldwide condemnation , after which
President Goodluck Jonathan vowed to secure the area ,
including by deploying more troops . But the promised troop
numbers have failed to materialise , often leaving residents
to rely entirely on vigilantes for protection .
Boko Haram’ s five - year uprising in Nigeria has claimed
more than 13 , 000 lives and has seen dozens of people ,
including women and children , kidnapped by the Islamists .
Baga was the scene of an alleged military massacre in April
2013 . Human rights groups and media reports said that
Nigerian troops had stormed the town after militants
mounted a deadly attack on an Army patrol . Thousands of
houses were burned and over 100 bodies were recovered in
the aftermath , according to community leaders who spoke to
Human Rights Watch. Nigerian military officials said only
armed militants were killed .
The incident cast a shadow over Western cooperation with
Nigeria ’ s military. The US has supplied arms and training to
Nigeria , as well as intelligence support, primarily in pursuit of
Boko Harem . Britain and France have also assisted Nigeria
since the high - profile capture of the schoolgirls from Chibok .
Dozens of those captured have since escaped , but 219 are
still believed to be in captivity
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