Members of Boko Haram Islamist sect on Friday, May 15 recaptured Marte, a town 112km from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.
According to reports, Zannah Mustapha, the deputy governor of Borno State has confirmed that Marte had been recaptured by the insurgents. The group had been forced out of Sambisaforest and other camping grounds by the military.
“It is sad as we have been made to understand that Marte is today completely fallen under the control of the insurgents, which to us is a very huge set back”, Mustapha said.
Due to the attempted invasion on Wednesday, May 13, 2015 the Nigerian army on Thursday, May 14 had imposed a 24 hour curfew on the city of Maiduguri.
Intelligence reports after the attempted invasion reveals that the sect had recruited and trained nothing less than 600 female suicide bombers to wreak havoc on the city.
According to Mustapha: “Initially we were opposed to the suggestion made by the military; but when we received a security report that about 600 women have been kitted as suicide bombers and are to be sneaked into Maiduguri during the attack, coupled with the gory pictures of some of the women who detonated themselves during the attack, we had no option than to okay the curfew.”
Three of the females had on detonated their bombs at the front line that ended killing three members of the civilian-JTF leaving several others injured.
Mustapha said “It is unfortunate that we are experiencing yet another attack in Maiduguri at this time that we are thinking that the insurgency should have subsided following the taking over of Sambisa forest by the military”.
“Our thinking was that every other place should have been blocked so that the insurgency would be curtailed to a restricted area. But that has not been the case, because the insurgents have been fleeing to other communities.”
He urged the Maiduguri residents to be patient with the security forces despite the difficulties the 24 hour curfew was likely to cause them.
