Boko Haram 'seizes army base' in Nigeria town of Baga
Source: BBC
Officials in Nigeria say the Islamist group Boko Haram has seized a town and a military base used by a multinational force set up to fight the insurgents.
The senator for Borno North said troops abandoned the base in the town of Baga after it was attacked on Saturday.
Residents of Baga, who fled by boat to neighbouring Chad, said many people had been killed and the town set ablaze.
Baga, scene of a Nigerian army massacre in 2013, was one of the last towns in the area under government control.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30672391
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)7962
(11,841 posts)Its because of things like this. A "multinational" force cuts and runs when a group of terrorists attacks them. In many cases there is no option but to ask the US, or maybe a couple other capable countries, for help. The only times we lose is when we decide we dont want to win
daleo
(21,317 posts)Brigid
(17,621 posts)We could do worse than to remember that.
christx30
(6,241 posts)and 10's of thousands of recruits from when the government fails. The humanitarian crisis they will cause will kill 100's of thousands. Those 200 school girls they kidnapped are just the beginning.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)The arguments used to get us involved in most of the wars that have cost us so dearly in blood and treasure -- all for nothing.
christx30
(6,241 posts)I'm under no illusion that it would do any good. But ISIS has shown that they can use stolen weapons as good or better than the people we arm. And the local militaries can't seem to take care of the problem. I'm just dreading the day we have an IS or a Boko guy showing up at the UN demanding international recognition.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Considering their barbaric behavior -- the only kind of behavior they seem to know.
area51
(11,910 posts)are the reason why we don't have health care as a basic human right, and why our infrastructure is crumbling. Most of our taxes are going to the military including civilian cos. which supply them, and blackops.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Although it does appear it is nearly as good at killing civilians as Boko Haram is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baga_massacre
Rhinodawg
(2,219 posts)Is there are difference between ISIS and boko harem ?
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)You have to wonder why it is that such barbaric movements gain traction.
I think it's a cheap shot to blame it on Islam. If the conditions were right, we could just as easily see nihilistic movements claiming the mantle of Christianity or Hinduism to justify their actions.
I think these movements are horribly misguided responses to horribly fucked up societies. And they fill an ideological gap: They are in rebellion against the world as it is, and radical jihadism provides an organizing principle. Oh, for the good old days of Communist national liberation movements.
Rhinodawg
(2,219 posts)Yea, how anyone could engage in barbaric heinous actions is something I will never understand.
Killing without remorse...what a weird concept.
7962
(11,841 posts)The countries couldnt be much different from each other. The races couldnt be much different from each other either. They attack poor and rich alike only because they believe differently. The book they read calls for violence in many different ways for those who do not believe as they do.
The only way to get rid of them is when the Islamic majority tire of being painted with their brush and push back hard.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)The head in the sand nonsense around here is getting tiresome.
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)So they agree on doctrine and conduct at least that much.
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)The govt. is useless
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Not unlike Mexico...
Secondly, the country is 50/50 split between christians and muslims, and the majority of the economic/political power is in the christian south
muriel_volestrangler
(101,321 posts)Boko Haram fighters burnt down almost the entire town on Wednesday, after over-running a military base on Saturday, Musa Alhaji Bukar said.
Bodies lay strewn on Baga's streets, amid fears that some 2,000 people had been killed in the raids, he added.
...
Mr Bukar, a senior government official in the area, said that fleeing residents told him that the town, which had a population of about 10,000, was now "virtually non-existent".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30728158
Bosonic
(3,746 posts)https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/553230783264333824
https://twitter.com/AFP/status/553222780519731201
bemildred
(90,061 posts)We should embargo weapons and bomb them with food and cash. That would calm things down. As it is, I see little to hope for.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)That seems another popular approach in some corners.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)People talk about how it's not getting enough coverage, but if it was getting wall-to-wall coverage, what would be (and/or should be) the response from the US?
bemildred
(90,061 posts)But ensuring food security for everybody in the area would be a start. You send in an armed force, take an area, move supplies in and feed the crowd, take care of them, get order restored, do some recruiting. Then, when that settles down, you do the next area, and so on. Meanwhile you make sure everybody in the surrounding areas knows about it.
You need the military to protect the civilians, and you need the civilians to protect and guide the military, it's symbiotic.
Medical care is useful too.
The main problem with food bombs is they get co-opted and don't get to the intended targets in the intended way, so you have to do it stepwise.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)that talked about how some members of Boko Haram were fleeing a section of forest where they'd hid, due to the spiders and snakes within it. Their various religious beliefs had something to do with their fear of the snakes and spiders.
Well, that was a lightbulb moment. If their members are so afraid of spiders and snakes that they'd flee from their locations simply because those creatures are in their area, then why not drop nonpoisonous spiders and snakes on them at night? They can't tell if they're poisonous at first glance, and it does seem like a glance is all it takes to put enough fear into them that they are no longer a threat.
I don't recall if the story mentioned them dropping their weapons or not, but, if nothing else, rubber spiders and snakes might work just as well if dropped at night
oberliner
(58,724 posts)MAIDUGURISome members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, arrested yesterday at Mairi ward behind University of Maiduguri by members of the Civilian JTF vigilante group, have confessed that most of them are fleeing the Sambisa Forest to areas across Borno State owing to what they believe is spiritual attacks from mysterious snakes and bees, which had killed many of their leaders.
ttp://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/06/mysterious-snakes-bees-attack-boko-haram-sambisa-forest/#sthash.mJKceOgs.dpuf
Interesting.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,321 posts)Bodies reportedly lay strewn on the streets of the town following an assault by the Islamists on Wednesday, with hundreds feared killed.
...
Soldiers from Niger had been there but were not present when it was attacked.
The BBC's Nasidi Yahaya in Abuja says the decision of Niger is clearly a big blow to Nigeria which boasts that the presence of a multinational task force in the area would help defeat Boko Haram militants.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30743030
Bosonic
(3,746 posts)Incoming reports indicate that Damature, the capital of Yobe state, is under heavy attack by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.
This is happening barely one month after the militants attacked residents of the town.
There are currently multiple explosions and heavy gunfire.
PREMIUM TIMES spoke with Umar Haruna, a civil servant resident in Damaturu and he confirmed the assault started around 8pm. We are under attack; gun shooting everywhere in Damaturu we dont know what to do now, he said.
http://dailypost.ng/2015/01/09/breaking-damaturu-reportedly-serious-boko-haram-attack/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damaturu
muriel_volestrangler
(101,321 posts)The images show some 3,700 structures damaged or destroyed in Baga and Doron Baga this month, Amnesty said.
Nigeria's government has disputed reports that as many as 2,000 were killed, putting the toll at just 150.
Amnesty cited witnesses saying that militants had killed indiscriminately. It said the damage was "catastrophic".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30826582
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/nigeria-satellite-images-show-horrific-scale-boko-haram-attack-baga-2015-01-15
LeftishBrit
(41,208 posts)GOLGO 13
(1,681 posts)Incompetent, corrupt, unmanly or a combination of everything. Never heard of a military that allows such actions without a response.