Thousands of Nigerians have been forced to flee their homes, swamping towns in the north of neighbouring Cameroon following incessant attacks by Boko Haram in Nigeria’s northeast, authorities said yesterday.
This came as Boko Haram terrorists, for three days, laid siege to Gamboru town, forcefully conscripting youths to fight both the Nigerian and Cameroonian troops. They were said to have killed those who resisted them.
After the three-day attack, 29 persons were killed, while 215 of the youths, who fled to Cameroon to escape the forceful conscription, have recounted their ordeals in the hands of the insurgents.
A Cameroonian police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity that: “We’ve been flooded here in Mora by Cameroonians and Nigerians fleeing Boko Haram. The day before yesterday (Friday), there were already more than 10,000 people in Mora. Not a day goes by without more people coming.”
The number of internally displaced people in Nigeria and those who have crossed its borders into Cameroon, Niger and Chad because of the militant violence has been increasing, with no end in sight to the insurgency.
The United Nations’ humanitarian office (OCHA) said on August 5 that Boko Haram attacks have forced nearly 650,000 people from their homes in the North-East states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, has said that nearly 11,500 fled Gwoza, also in Borno State, when militants seized the town on August 7. Boko Haram has since declared Gwoza part of an Islamic caliphate.
The Cameroonian police officer said registration of the displaced persons had begun in Mora, while the nearby town of Kolofata had seen more than 6,000 arrive.
“People are everywhere: in schools, under trees and in the markets,” he added.
“They’re all coming from Cameroonian and Nigerian villages in the Kerawa area.”
Kerawa straddles the border and has come under attack in recent days by Boko Haram, forcing the residents to flee on foot.
Cameroon state radio said the withdrawal of its soldiers had led to a mass exodus of civilians, adding that more than 6,000 people had taken flight and were now based in the Kolofata state school, with 2,000 others around Mora.
Gamboru Ngala residents, who fled across the border to the Cameroon town of Fotokol, said on Saturday that the militants had begun to kill people “like chickens,” despite initially targeting only the police and military.
The spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri also claimed militant fighters had carried out atrocities against Christians in the town of Madagali, in Adamawa State, but there was no independent corroboration.
Cameroon security sources said Gamboru Ngala was bombed from the air on Saturday night, but it was unclear whether it was a Nigerian or Cameroonian air force operation.
The terrorists operating on several motorcycles stormed Gamboru and moved from house to house, searching for youths who refused to flee after last Monday’s attack that claimed 25 lives.
Gamboru is a border town, and 138 kilometres North East of Maiduguri, the state capital.
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