INSIDE BOKO HARAM: Insurgents ‘always knew’ when soldiers were coming

Zahra Umoru, a teenager among the women and children rescued from the Sambisa forest, says the insurgents were able to delay the rescue of their victims based on the information they had on the itinerary of the military.

Speaking with TheCable at Malkohi, one of the camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Yola, Adamawa state, Umoru said the insurgents kept moving captives from one place to the other.

“When they captured us, we were taken to a house in Gwoza. When they heard soldiers were in Madagali, they took us to Peta where we lived under trees,” said Umoru, who was captured in November.

“We don’t know how Boko Haram gets its information, but they always know when the soldiers are coming. If there’s something like that, they just tell us to pack our things and run.

“The night we left Gwoza, we just finished cooking, but we were not allowed to eat the food; we were just packed and left.”

Some other girls in the camp confirmed that they were moved from one village to another, one bush to the other, town to town, based on the movement of the military.

However, it is unclear if the sect gets its information from news reports and statements issued by the defence headquarters.

When the military was moving into the Sambisa forest earlier in April, Mike Omeri, coordinator of the national information centre, informed the press, saying that the government was committed to rescuing the girls.

“Presently, the military is moving into the Sambisa forest after taking Alagarno, Gwoza, Bama, Malam Fatori, Abadam, among others,” Omeri said at the time.

“The fortification of the border routes by other members of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) has also played a key role in these successes. Our intelligence indicates that the present military operation is focused in the area where the girls are believed to be held.”

About two weeks later, the military said in another statement that its men were still present in Sambisa to recover the girls.

“Troops have not retreated from Sambisa forest as claimed by same sources. Rather, the operation is progressing and gaining increasing momentum towards clearing all terrorists hideouts in the forest,” the statement read in part.