GWOZA, Nigeria (AP) – As the turbaned militant lifted his head from his Quran and readied to dash to his anti-aircraft gun, the helicopter pilot stuck the nose of his aircraft into the air and veered away. Then he called in the coordinates for an airstrike.
It was a chilling reminder that Boko Haram extremists still are in northeast Nigeria with all sorts of weapons even as Nigeria’s military officials boast that they have ousted them from all major towns and forest camps.
Each day brings new reports of atrocities, with mass graves being discovered in towns seized back from the militants who had tried to set up an “Islamic caliphate” across a great swath of northeast Nigeria.
Just this week, survivors described how the insurgents arrived in a village, saying they had come to preach Islam. When villagers gathered in front of the mosque, the extremists opened fire. When some ran into the mosque, the militants set it ablaze, burning alive some of their victims.
“As I speak to you, all the towns they previously occupied … have been cleared, so they really have no base,” said defense ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade. “All we are doing at the moment is mopping up and conducting cordon and search for weapons and as many of them as may be straggling.”