Boko Haram killing spree in Nigeria

Boko Haram extremists have killed more than 10 people in an attack on Gamboru in northeast Nigeria's Borno state, witnesses said. The jihadists also slaughtered dozens of women in Bama, close to Gamboru.

Residents of Fotokol, a town on Cameroon's border to Nigeria said the rebels attacked on Wednesday, a month after Gamboru was recaptured by Chadian troops(pictured above) who are part of a four-nation offensive, including Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger, against Boko Haram militants.

The Gamboru attack was accompanied by another atrocity blamed on the terrorists in Bama, which is also in Borno state. Boko Haram militants slaughtered dozens of women who had been forced to marry them.

Witnesses said the militants killed the women to prevent them from subsequently marrying other non believers. "The terrorists said they will not allow their wives to be married to infidels," a mother of three told AFP.

Nigeria's national security spokesman Mike Omeri said he would try and verify the reports.

The Nigerian army said on Tuesday it had repelled the Islamists from almost all districts in the northeast, but the attack on Wednesday revealed the government's vulnerability two weeks before Nigeria's presidential elections.

Boko Haram believes that western civilization is against Islam's principles and seeks to establish a state based on an extreme interpretation of Sharia law. The group has been at war with Nigeria and its neighboring countries since 2009 and has claimed more than 13,000 lives.

mg/lw (AFP, Reuters)