The Nigerian military has struggled to stamp out the highly mobile, combat-hardened fighters of Boko Haram, who want to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria [Xinhua]Boko Haram Islamist extremists have killed at least 30 people and kidnapped an unknown number of women and children after two days of attacks in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, local authorities have said.
The Boko Haram fighters, who last year pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS), destroyed communications towers to prevent local residents from calling the army for help.
They seized livestock and grains and set fire to a number of homes in the two villages of Yakshari and Kachifa; this part of their typical scorched earth modus operandi.
The African Union and a number of neighboring countries have joined Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram.
In early December, the Cameroonian defense ministry announced that its forces had killed at least 100 Boko Haram fighters and rescued over 900 hostages abducted by the extremist group.
Boko Haram is based in the northeastern state of Borno in Nigeria. But in recent years it has carried out cross-border incursions in neighboring Cameroon, Mali, and Niger with deadly effect.
While the extremist group has lost some territory, it has not lost its capability to launch suicide and car bomb attacks or kidnap women and children for leverage.
Last week, two female suicide bombers detonated the explosives they were carrying and killed 60 people at a refugee camp for those fleeing Boko Haram violence. officials have said.
The refugee camp is located at Dikwa, 100km northeast of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, which was once occupied by Boko Haram. The UN quickly condemned the attack.
A day later, two suicide bombers killed 10 in a Cameroonian village bordering northeastern Nigeria.
On November 26, Boko Haram militia killed at least 30 in raids on towns along Niger’s southern border.
They burned 50 homes, abducted a number of women and murdered a Muslim cleric, Niger authorities said.
On November 27, Boko Haram carried out an attack against Shia marchers observing a ritual in Nigeria’s northern city of Kano.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
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