Boko Haram intensifies terror attacks in Nigeria
The abduction of more than a 100 girls last week from a school compound in Nigeria's restive Muslim-majority northern State of Borno, has once again put the spotlight on the country's homegrown Islamist terror outfit, Boko Haram. Though the group is yet to take responsibility for the April 15 incident that has sparked global outrage, the attack has all the hallmarks of a Boko Haram job and is the latest in a series of high-profile terror hits across Nigeria. A day before the girls were taken, Boko Haram terrorists attacked the main military barracks in Borno’s State capital, Maiduguri, to free the detainees. In the bloodbath that followed, 600 prisoners were killed. That same day, a bomb went off at a bus station in Abuja that killed more than 70 people. It was the deadliest attack on the national capital. Before that, on March 30, militants mounted another attack, a failed jailbreak, on the State Security Services' headquarters, also in Abuja. Apart from these, there have been many smaller attacks mostly in the northern parts of the country. The audacious attacks in Abuja, a city considered to be relatively secure in the past two years, as well as the growing scale and intensity of some of the other incidents (in November, dozens of Christian women many with small children were abducted), indicate a worrying escalation in Boko Haram’s terror activities.
In its five-year-long bloody campaign, the group has already claimed more than 5,000 lives and indiscriminately targeted schools, churches, mosques, hospitals, police stations and Government offices. Initially, Boko Haram said that its aim was to implement Sharia'h law in the north but having captured much ground in its early years, the group was emboldened enough to widen its goals and include the decimation of the Nigerian Government as well. But the tide turned against Boko Haram when the Nigerian Government launched multi-pronged, military counter-offensive in May 2013. President Jonathan Goodluck declared Emergency and sent thousands of troops to the northern States of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, which remain the worse-affected. The soldiers were able to flush out the terrorists from the urban areas but, since then, have struggled to eliminate them from their remote hideouts, mostly in the jungles and mountain caves, despite a sustained aerial campaign accompanied by relentless ground offensives. The near-daily battles and bombardment has, understandably, taken a toll on the local population which is frustrated with the inability of the Government — perceived to be corrupt and inefficient — to defeat the terror group. To make matters worse, there have also been reports of growing local ‘sympathy' for the terrorists as well as calls to lift the Emergency decree. This latest series of attacks should quieten both but most importantly, it must compel the Government of Nigeria to intensify its military campaign against Boko Haram and obliterate the group.