Boko Haram appears to be on the front foot again as it kidnaps 31 loggers in Borno State

BOKO Haram has stepped up its activities in the new year with the recent abduction of 31 loggers in Borno State just a few days after 30 soldiers were reported missing following a raid on a military base in the state.

 

Since 2009, Boko Haram have been waging a jihad against the Nigerian state, seeking to establish an Islamic caliphate but over the last three years, the army has succeeded in reigning the sect in. Boko Haram once controlled 14 local governments in northeast Nigeria but at the moment do not control any and over the last two years have been on the run.

 

Over the last week, however, the terrorist sect appears to have stepped up its activities, attacking military formations and now it appears to have abducted these loggers. Apparently, the loggers, mostly in their twenties, had left the town of Gamboru on the border with Cameroon on Tuesday morning to fetch firewood in a Boko Haram hotspot.

 

Umar Kachalla, a militia in Gamboru, fighting Boko Haram alongside the military, said: “All 31 have not been seen since yesterday and it is obvious they were seized by Boko Haram.”

 

He added that the loggers had left for Wulgo village in nearby Marte district, 15 kilometres away, with their axes and wooden carts to collect wood to sell and raise money to buy food, Kachalla said. Two weeks ago, Boko Haram gunmen shot dead 10 loggers from Gamboru in the bush outside Wulgo while collecting firewood, according to another militia member Shehu Mada.

 

Mr Mada said: “We believe Boko Haram abducted them to use them as fighters, given their young age. They abandon the bodies of their victims when they kill them but the fact that the bodies of the loggers have not been seen is clear indication they were abducted.”

 

Boko Haram fighters still operate in hard-to-reach rural areas where military operations are minimal. Despite the recapture of the area, Boko Haram fighters continue to launch sporadic attacks, ambushing troops and vehicles, as well as attacking and abducting farmers.

 

Last week two farmers were shot dead by jihadists while harvesting their crops in Bugda village outside Gamboru, according to local resident Nasiru Saidu. Boko Haram have increasingly targeted loggers in their armed campaign, accusing them of spying and passing information to the military and the local militia fighting them.

 

On Christmas Day the jihadists killed 25 loggers at a logging site outside the city of Maiduguri. Boko Haram’s insurgency against the government has spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, killing around 20,000 people and displacing more than 2.6m.

 

 

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