This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/world/africa/boko-haram-attacks-major-nigerian-city-in-a-sustained-assault.html

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Boko Haram Attacks Major Nigerian City in a Sustained Assault Boko Haram Attacks Major Nigerian City in a Sustained Assault
(about 5 hours later)
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Maiduguri, the major city in Nigeria’s northeast, came under sustained attack from Boko Haram terrorists on Sunday morning, with officials here calling it the group’s most audacious assault on the city to date. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Maiduguri, the major city in Nigeria’s northeast, came under sustained attack from Boko Haram terrorists on Sunday, and officials here called it the group’s most audacious assault on the city to date.
This city of over two million people was attacked beginning late Saturday night from at least two directions by the militants from the Islamist insurgency, which effectively controls the territory surrounding the city. Loud explosions were heard in the center of the city, and small-arms fire and artillery in its suburbs. By early afternoon the attackers had been beaten back, but not before dozens of soldiers had been killed, officials said, and a major military base to the north of the city had been taken by the insurgents, sending about 1,400 soldiers fleeing into the bush.
“Certainly this is the most serious attack yet,” said Kashim Shettima, the governor of Borno State, of which Maiduguri is the capital. “We faced a really existential threat.” The attack on this city of more than two million people, a key commercial and administrative hub, began late Saturday night, with the militants from the Islamist insurgency, which already controls the territory surrounding Maiduguri, rushing in from at least two directions. Loud explosions could be heard in the center of the city, as well as small-arms fire and artillery in its suburbs. The attack represented a significant thrust forward in a creeping campaign that began last summer to encircle Maiduguri, officials said.
By late Sunday morning, the attack appeared to have been repulsed by the Nigerian military. Officials said bombs dropped on insurgent positions had turned the tide of the battle here, but there were reports that a major military installation in a town to the north, Monguno, had fallen to the insurgents, with over 1,000 soldiers fleeing to the bush in the face of the attack. “Certainly this is the most serious attack yet,” said Kashim Shettima, the governor of Borno State, of which Maiduguri is the capital. “We faced a really existential threat.” By early evening Maiduguri, a normally bustling metropolis of open-air markets and street-side stalls, was dead quiet, with a military curfew pushing all civilian vehicles off the streets. The only sound was the call to prayer from the city’s numerous mosques.
The attack on Maiduguri coincided with a visit by Secretary of State John Kerry to Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, for meetings with President Goodluck Jonathan and his challenger in the coming presidential election, Muhammadu Buhari, a retired general. Mr. Kerry was expected to focus in part on the Boko Haram threat amid mounting friction between the United States and Nigeria over how best to deal it. Earlier in the day, before being repulsed, the insurgents had once again demonstrated the tactical mettle that has allowed them to gain control of territory for hundreds of miles around Maiduguri. On Sunday they overwhelmed soldiers at one of the city’s principal military checkpoints, arriving in buses as if they were ordinary travelers, Mr. Shettima said.
Initial reports suggested that civilian and military casualties here were substantial. Witnesses reported seeing hundreds of residents fleeing the suburbs and rushing toward the city’s center. They also reported seeing some Nigerian troops moving away from the fighting, as in numerous previous engagements with the Islamists. “The soldiers were completely caught off guard,” he said. Before the soldiers realized who they were, the Boko Haram insurgents opened fire. “I believe they must have killed hundreds,” Mr. Shettima said as he tried to give an estimate of the military casualties. At the same time, the Islamists were attacking another position close to the city, straining the military’s resources in the area.
“There’s a lot of gunshots and explosions,” said a top official at the city’s leading hospital who lives in the suburbs and asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the press and did not want to jeopardize his job. “These boys are trying to come into town.” “They are becoming more and more sophisticated by the day,” added Mr. Shettima, who said he feared another attack on the city. “They have essentially put the town under siege. They have cut the town off from all routes. They are continuously squeezing us into a very tight corner.”
Unicef officials working in Borno State said that aid workers, including from the Red Cross, reported that six civilians and 40 insurgents had been killed and that 40 people had been injured in the area near the Maiduguri airport. Casualties in Monguno were likely to be higher, they said. After the insurgents overwhelmed the soldiers, they moved to a checkpoint closer to the city. The military then called in warplanes, and officials said bombs dropped on insurgent positions turned the tide of the battle here, even as a town to the north, Monguno, was falling.
Maiduguri was placed under curfew. The center of the city was calm late Sunday morning. The streets were empty, with vehicle traffic largely banned. A top federal police official, who was in Maiduguri after a presidential visit and asked not to be identified so that he could speak freely, said: “In the early hours of the day the Boko Haram wanted to come into town. But by the grace of God, we have repelled them.” The top military official here declined to discuss the day’s events.
The sustained attack by the Islamists on the center of Nigerian state and military power in this section of the country — the city that was their movement’s birthplace — was one more indication that they are stepping up the pace of their offensive before a critical presidential election next month. The attack on Maiduguri coincided with a visit by Secretary of State John Kerry to Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, for meetings with President Goodluck Jonathan and his challenger in the coming presidential election, Muhammadu Buhari, a retired general.
The attack came hours after Mr. Jonathan had left Maiduguri after a campaign speech. Just before the president arrived in the city, the militants had attacked Kambari, a village barely three miles from Maiduguri, burning it and killing 15 people. Amid mounting friction between the two countries over how best to fight Boko Haram — the relationship is so strained that the Nigerians canceled an American military training program in December — Mr. Kerry said the United States was prepared to do more to help the faltering Nigerian military.
One of the governor’s security advisers, a retired military intelligence officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of this position, said: “They must have coordinated their attack very well. As they were attacking, they were coming in four different directions.” But he warned that the level of American support would be influenced by the determination of Nigeria’s politicians to carry out a fair and peaceful election on Feb. 14. American officials also fear that the Nigerian military has been infiltrated by Boko Haram, a claim angrily denied by the Nigerians.
A top federal police official, who was in Maiduguri in the wake of a presidential visit and asked not to be identified so that he could speak freely, said: “In the early hours of the day the Boko Haram wanted to come into town. But by the grace of God, we have repelled them.” “Bottom line, we want to do more,” Mr. Kerry said Sunday. “But our ability to do more will depend to some degree on the full measure of credibility, accountability, transparency and peacefulness of this election.” His pointed warning came against a backdrop of campaign violence by supporters of the candidates and a history of electoral fraud and postelection killing.
Hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes and at least 10,000 killed over the course of the Islamists’ insurgency, now stretching into its sixth year. Brutal assaults on civilians have characterized their bloody insurrection. In Maiduguri, as the attack progressed on Sunday, witnesses reported seeing hundreds of residents fleeing the suburbs and rushing toward the city’s center. The witnesses also reported seeing some Nigerian troops moving away from the fighting, a response that is not uncommon when they clash with insurgents.
Mr. Shettima, the Borno governor and a leading member of the opposition party, All Progressives Congress, expressed exasperation Sunday over the attack by Boko Haram. “It’s so sad,” Mr. Shettima said. “If a genuine effort had been made, this thing could have been stopped a long time ago. It’s a ragtag army.” Sabo Fari, a bicycle repairman who fled during the fighting in Maiduguri’s suburbs, said he was nearly killed. “Bullets flew over my head,” Mr. Fari said. “My house shook severely. I took the risk. I directed the whole of my family to vacate the house.”
How the United States plans to help Nigeria regain the initiative against militant group remains unclear. Boko Haram’s abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls last spring provoked outrage in the United States and Europe. But a breakdown in trust between the United States; and Nigeria’s militaries, has hampered cooperation against Boko Haram, as have fears that the provision of heavy weapons to Nigerian forces could lead to human rights abuses. The violence shook Maiduguri’s suburbs. “There’s a lot of gunshots and explosions,” said a top official at the city’s leading hospital who lives at the city’s edge. He asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the press. “These boys are trying to come into town.”
After a meeting with his British counterpart, earlier this month, Mr. Kerry said that the attacks by Boko Haram constituted war crimes and asserted that the United States was planning a “special initiative” to counter the group. Officials with the humanitarian agency Unicef in Borno State said that aid workers, including from the Red Cross, reported that six civilians and 40 insurgents had been killed and that 40 people had been wounded in the area near the Maiduguri airport. The death toll is likely to rise, and casualties in Monguno were expected to be higher, they said.
But Mr. Kerry has not provided details of what that initiative is, when it might be undertaken or how the cooperation between the American and Nigerian militaries might be improved. Soldiers here were able to retake some of the military equipment the insurgents had captured after a bloody assault on a military base and village earlier this month in Baga. The soldiers seized an armored personnel carrier and a heavy artillery gun, said Mr. Shettima, the governor of Borno State.
President Obama is planning to convene an international meeting on combating violent extremism on Feb. 18 and that could be an opportunity for discussing new ideas, the State Department official said. The Maiduguri attack came hours after Mr. Jonathan had left the city after a campaign speech. Just before the president arrived, the militants had attacked Kambari, a village barely three miles from Maiduguri, burning it and killing 15 people.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes, and at least 10,000 have been killed over the course of the Islamists’ insurgency, now stretching into its sixth year.
Mr. Shettima, who is also a leading member of the opposition party, All Progressives Congress, expressed exasperation over the attack by Boko Haram on Sunday. “It’s so sad,” he said. “If a genuine effort had been made, this thing could have been stopped a long time ago. It’s a ragtag army.”
How the United States plans to help Nigeria regain the initiative against the insurgents remains unclear. Boko Haram’s abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls last spring provoked outrage in the United States and Europe. But a breakdown in trust between the United States’ and Nigeria’s militaries has hampered cooperation against Boko Haram, as have fears that giving heavy weapons to Nigerian forces could lead to human rights abuses.
After a meeting with his British counterpart this month, Mr. Kerry said the attacks by Boko Haram constituted war crimes and asserted that the United States was planning a “special initiative” to counter the group.
But Mr. Kerry has not provided details about what that initiative is, when it might be undertaken or how the cooperation between the two militaries might be improved.
He said there was evidence that the militants from the Islamic State group, which has declared a caliphate in eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq, were now trying to forge alliances with terrorist groups in Africa.
“It is obviously a concern that they may try more aggressively to try to spread to countries in center and southern and other parts of Africa,” Mr. Kerry said. He added that there was no indication as yet that Boko Haram had formally affiliated itself with the Islamic State.