source : http://m.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30672391



The militant group Boko Haram has seized
a town and key multinational military base
in north-eastern Nigeria, officials and
eyewitnesses say.
A senator in Borno state said troops had
abandoned the base in the town of Baga after
it was attacked on Saturday.
Residents of Baga, who fled by boat to
neighbouring Chad, said many people had been
killed and the town set ablaze.
Baga, scene of a Nigerian army massacre in
2013, was the last town in the Borno North
area under government control.
It hosted the base of the Multi-National Joint
Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from
Nigeria, Chad and Niger.
Set up in 1998 to fight trans-border crime in
the Lake Chad region, the force more recently
took on Boko Haram.
Boko Haram attacks towns and villages on an
almost daily basis, abducting people including
young boys and girls, BBC Africa analyst Mary
Harper reports.
The military, which includes Western advisers
and surveillance, seems incapable of dealing
with the problem, she adds.
'Helter skelter'
Residents who fled to Chad said they had
woken to heavy gunfire as militants stormed
Baga early on Saturday, attacking from all
directions.
They said they had decided to flee when they
saw the multi-national troops running away.
Maina Maaji Lawan, senator for Borno North,
told BBC World Service civilians had run
"helter skelter" - "some into the forest, some
into the desert".
Communications with the town were cut off
and exact information about casualty numbers
could not be confirmed, he said.
"We are very dispirited," the senator added.
Confirming that the military had abandoned
the base, he said people's frustration knew "no
bounds" over the apparent fact that the
military had not fought back.
"There is definitely something wrong that
makes our military abandon their posts each
time there is an attack from Boko Haram," the
senator said.

M

this is the type of news I don't want to hear in this 2015!