Nigeria army accused
June 4, 2014
The latest attacks blamed on terror group Boko Haram were reported on Wednesday. Gunmen arrived in military-type pickup trucks and on motorcycles in the villages of Attagara, Amuda and Ngoshe in Borno state on Tuesday, according to local media. At least 30 people were reported killed and a number of buildings were set on fire.
The attacks happened as the army denied reports that ten generals and five other senior military officers had been tried by a court martial for supplying arms and information to Boko Haram. A military spokesman called the reports "falsehoods."
The denial followed comments by Interior Minister Abba Moro who said it was "good news" that the army had named the accused. He said it sent a strong message to other serving officers.
Earlier this month Abba Moro rejected a proposal from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau for the release of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in April in exchange for jailed fighters, saying the group could not dictate terms.
The Nigerian armed forces have come in for criticism concerning the lack of protection offered to the civilian population in the north east which has witnessed attacks by Boko Haram since 2009, in the name of an insurgency to create an Islamic state in Nigeria.
Nigerian Police Public Relations officer Frank Mba (photo) presented the army's Counter Terrorism Campaign in the capital, Abuja on Monday a day after 14 people were killed in a bomb blast at a televised screening of a football match in north east Nigeria near the border of Cameroon. It is one of the areas in Nigeria under a state of emergency because of the Boko Haram attacks.
jm/msh (dpa, AFP)