Nigeria’s Boko Haram in disarray, say freed captives

Many of the militants were reduced to carrying sticks while some of their vehicles were either broken down or lacked gasoline, said rescued captives brought to the government-run camp in the Malkohi hamlet.

One of the children rescued from Boko Haram, seen here holding a piece of bread after arriving at the Malkohi camp for internally displaced people in Yola, Nigeria on May 2, 2015. Tthe Nigerian army stormed the militants' hideout in the Sambisa forest to rescue at least 275 people who were kidnapped. Afolabi Sotunde/ReutersShow less

MALKOHI, NIGERIA // Boko Haram is fracturing amid shortages of weapons and fuel foment tensions between its foot soldiers and leaders, said the women rescued from the militants fighters by Nigerian troops.

The group abducted an estimated 2,000 women and girls last year as it sought to carve out an Islamic state in the northeast of Africa’s biggest economy. The army has freed nearly 700 in the past week as it advances on Boko Haram’s last stronghold in the vast Sambisa forest.

The militants began complaining to their captives about lacking guns and ammunition last month, two of the women said, and many were reduced to carrying sticks while some of their vehicles were either broken down or lacked gasoline.

A 45-year old mother of two, Aisha Abbas, who was taken from Dikwa in April, said the fighters all had guns at first but recently, only some carried them.

The 275 freed captives were brought to a government-run camp in the Malkohi hamlet on the outskirts of Adamawa state capital, Yola. Many small children hobbled around visibly malnourished.

“One evening in April, Boko Haram followers stood before us and said ‘Our leaders don’t want to give us enough fuel and guns and now the soldiers are encroaching on us in Sambisa. We will leave you’,” one of the women, 18-year old Binta Ibrahim from northern Adamawa state said. The women said that when the militants saw two helicopters circling at noon on the day of their rescue, they began trying to sell the women for up to 2,000 naira (Dh37) each. Towards evening, as the army approached, the captives refused to flee with Boko Haram fighters, who began stoning them.

“We heard bulles flying around ... we lay on the floor. Some of the women were crushed [by army vehicles] and others wounded by bullets. Eighteen were killed ... they included infants,” Salamatu Mohamed from the Damboa area in Borno said. Boko Haram’s six-year insurgency has killed thousands and forced 1.5 million people from their homes. The group caused a global outcry when it abducted over 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok.

None of the women interviewed had seen any of the Chibok girls, but Ms Abbas said fighters who travelled from a camp in Sambisa where the girls were held described the situation.

“They said the Chibok girls were married off this year. Some sold to slavery, then others [militants] each married two or four of the girls,” Ms Abbas said.* Reuters