TheCable

Less than 72 hours after the Nigerian military and President Muhammadu Buhari said Boko Haram has been technically defeated, the sect struck in Maiduguri, killing at least 20 people.

The attack, according to Channels Television, was carried out at a mosque in the Borno state capital early on Monday morning.

On Sunday, the sect was reported to have been involved in a gun duel with the Nigerian military, which led to arrest of the insurgents.

Sani Usman, the army spokesman, said in a statement Sunday that the suspects were arrested in Kaduna after painstaking surveillance and proactive intelligence operations over a period of time.

“The arrest of these suspects would no doubt assist in the fight against terrorism in the country, more so as the military has technically defeated Boko Haram in the field, so the terrorists have resorted to attacking soft targets through suicide bombings, IEDs and through hit and run attacks on isolated communities,” he said.

In an interview with BBC Hausa, Buhari admitted that the Nigerian military may not meet the December 2015 deadline, but the military wis winning the war.

“Maybe we would not win the war completely by the end of the month, but the insurgents have now resorted to putting on explosive vests on young children, mostly girls aged 15 and below and then sending them to markets, mosques and churches to detonate.

“Boko Haram itself knows that the era of them taking over communities and local governments is over. If people would be fair to us, they would know that the Nigerian Army has basically met the deadline and are winning the war”.