TheCable

Boko Haram insurgents have reportedly hoisted their flag in Baga, a town in Borno state.

A resident who disclosed this to TheCable on Thursday evening said the insurgents took over the community after overrunning a military base.

“After displacing soldiers and rendering residents homeless, they hoisted their flag there. No one can deny this,” the resident who pleaded anonymity said.

A resident identified as Labbo Dan-Baga also confirmed this on a radio programme monitored by TheCable on Thursday.

“Boko Haram has hoisted its flag in Baga… We went to the mosque to pray and discovered we were surrounded by Boko Haram,” he said.

“They told us not to panic as we prayed together… they said they were not going to kill any civilian. And that they are from the Abu-Mossad Albarnawi’s ISWAP faction. They told us to stay in the town or leave if we want to. They dressed in browned caftan with army boots. Some completely covered their faces with mask.”

Another source said the insurgents also engaged troops in heavy fire in Doron Baga, Cross Kauwa and Kukawa areas of Borno and that Boko Haram fighters seized many gun trucks.

More than 5,000 persons have been displaced from Baga, Kukawa, Cross Kauwa, Mairari ward in Gudunbali and Garand in Guzamala local government areas of Borno after frequent attacks by the insurgents in the last one week.

Boko Haram fighters not only chased people from the communities but set many houses ablaze.

“The terrorists were really determined. They kept returning to communities in Guzamala after every attack,” the source said.

Bashir Garga, zonal coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the north-east, said a total of 2,046 internally displaced persons (IDPs) had their biodata captured by the agency on Tuesday alone.

The registered IDPs were from 204 households of the five communities, which have been affected by the activities of the insurgents.

“Immediate need assessment include: shelters, food, blankets, buckets, mosquito net,hygiene kits cooking materials, plastic bucket. In this period of harmattan,the registration is still ongoing as more are expected,” a NEMA official said.

Sani Usman, army spokesman, who had earlier confirmed the attack in Baga in a statement, is yet to respond to TheCable’s inquiries on the hoisting of flag.

In his statement, Usman had said the troops successfully repelled the attack but that a naval officer was killed.

Boko Haram has become more ferocious in recent times even though the current administration has often said that the sect has been decimated.

President Muhammadu Buhari and Lai Mohammed, minister of information, have on different occasions said Boko Haram has not been able to capture a single community in Nigeria since this government took over power.

Under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, the insurgents took control of some communities in the north-east.