1st September, 2014
There is fierce fighting going on between troops of the Nigerian army and suspected Boko Haram insurgents in Bama town, central part of Borno State, northeastern Nigeria.
Reports say fleeing residents said that hundreds of insurgents, armed with rocket propelled grenades (RPGs), explosives and guns stormed Bama at dawn and are still fighting with Nigerian troops.
“As I am talking to you (9.30am), the war is ongoing and it will be difficult to describe the level of destruction,” Tijjani Bukar, a driver that escaped to Maiduguri, said.
Bama was attacked in May 2013 and February, 2014.
The Army barracks and the emir’s palace were all attacked by the insurgents in the previous invasion. Bama is nearly 60 kilometres away from Maiduguri.
Three days ago, they captured Dikwa, 60 kilometers north of Bama.
Dikwa town, the headquarters of Dikwa Local Government Area in Borno State, is located 80 kilometers from the Borno State capital, Maiduguri.
However, an attempt by the terrorists to capture Banki town on the border with Cameroon was foiled on Saturday by Nigerian security forces.
According to reports, there have been air strikes on the Boko Haram stronghold in Gwoza to retake the town.
The insurgents appear defiant in the wake of the renewed onslaught against them by the Nigerian Air Force in Gwoza, a town they captured weeks ago and declared it its caliphate.
They turned the Emir’s partly damaged palace in Gwoza to their headquarters. More than five towns have been seized by the insurgents in recent weeks. Some of them include Gamboru, Buni Yadi, Madagali and Ashigashiya.
Last week there was a fierce battle between the terrorists and Nigerian forces in Gamboru and 480 soldiers escaped to Cameroon. The soldiers were later escorted back to Nigeria during which Cameroonian soldiers killed 27 Boko Haram members who clashed with them.
Defence Headquarters spokesman, Lt. Gen Chris Olukolade has continued to vow that the Nigerian military would not concede any ground to the insurgents, adding it would retake the towns captured by Boko Haram.