Boko Haram has seized the north-eastern Nigerian town of Chibok, from where 276 girls were kidnapped more than six months ago and which the government vowed to secure after the mass abduction. The April 14 kidnapping in the impoverished town in southern Borno state brought unprecedented global attention to the armed Islamist group's brutal five-year uprising.
Heads of state and top celebrities joined a viral social media campaign calling for the rescue of the seized, mostly Christian, schoolgirls, 219 of whom are still being held. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has repeatedly promised to rescue the schoolgirls, including on Tuesday when he launched his bid for a second term in office ahead of February 14 polls. In a July meeting in the capital Abuja with those affected by the kidnapping, Jonathan and top military brass also pledged to provide better security for the town. But the violence in the north-east has intensified since, with Boko Haram reportedly seizing more than two dozens towns and Nigeria's security forces reportedly absent in many areas.
The military was not immediately available to comment on the developments in Chibok. Given Chibok's symbolic significance, its fall raised fresh doubts about the Nigerian government's whole approach to the abduction - and its ability to handle the Boko Haram threat. "For Chibok to have fallen, after everything that has happened, it just underscores the mess we are in," Emman Usman Shehu, a regular on the Bring Back Our Girls protest marches in Abuja, told AFP.
"Chibok is also symbolic for Boko Haram. It should have been obvious to everyone that Boko Haram was going to target Chibok. It shows a lack of compassion, a lack of empathy and a lack of concern." "Chibok was taken by Boko Haram. They are in control," said Enoch Mark, a Christian pastor whose daughter and niece are among the hostages being held. Mark and the senator for southern Borno, Ali Ndume, said the militants attacked at about 4:00 pm (1500 GMT) on Thursday, destroying communications masts and forcing residents to flee.
Ndume said that he had received calls from fleeing residents about the attack that the town "was now under their (Boko Haram) control". "There is no telephone service now in Chibok, which is why it took time before the reports reached me," he added. Mark said the attack on the town appeared to come after Boko Haram overran the towns of Hong and Gombi in neighbouring Adamawa state following the group's ouster from the commercial hub of Mubi. Boko Haram invaded the two towns after vigilantes and hunters armed with home-made guns, bows and arrows, machetes, clubs and spears forced them out of Mubi, residents said late Thursday.
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