MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Boko Haram militants have slit the
throats of 12 people in northeast Nigeria as the army was trying to
evacuate civilians from the area,
a military source and a witness said
on Friday. The Islamist group has been driven out of much of the huge
swathe of territory they controlled at the start of the year, thanks to
a concerted push by troops from Nigeria and neighbours Chad, Niger and
Cameroon. The town of Gwoza, in mountainous terrain, was one of the
last places to fall, on March 27, and there remain pockets of Boko Haram
activity in the area, security sources say. "Just as troops were
trying to evacuate some civilians from the hills so as to safeguard them
from a planned air strike ... some Boko Haram attacked them and slit
the throats of 12 people," a military source said of Wednesday's attack.
A witness, Jonas Musa, told Reuters his parents were both among the
victims. He said soldiers had moved one wave of people from the hills
around Gwoza, but before they could go back for the second, the
attackers struck. Failure to crush Boko Haram or protect civilians
was one reason President Goodluck Jonathan lost an election on March 28
to Muhammadu Buhari. Boko Haram, fighting to establish an Islamic
state, has killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds during its
six-year-old insurgency in Africa's biggest economy and top oil
producer. Buhari has pledged to spare no effort in crushing the
militants after he is sworn in on May 29. He said on Tuesday he would do
everything he can to rescue more than 200 girls abducted by the group a
year ago from a school in the village of Chibok, but that he could not
promise to find them.
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