LAGOS
Nigerian troops are currently battling to prevent Boko Haram militants from taking over the town of Bama in the northeastern Borno State, local residents and army sources have told Anadolu Agency.
"Soldiers are combating terrorists who invaded Bama early today; fighting is still ongoing," Danyabo Aminu, a fish merchant in the town, told AA by phone.
"The terrorists came in several Hilux buses and [with] heavy munitions, but the good thing is that there are many soldiers here," he said.
Aminu's voice shook as he spoke to AA, while gunfire could be heard in the background.
"It is a battle of the titans; we civilians are caught in the fire," he said. "Many of our people have escaped, but we are holed up in our houses praying to survive."
An air force officer confirmed the ongoing operation.
"We have shelled many of them already, though there are minimal casualties on our side and the civilians too," he told AA, requesting anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
He could not provide an exact death toll, "since our men are still battling them [the militants]."
Boko Haram appears to have mastered the art of early morning raids, catching the local populace unaware, according to an AA correspondent.
The militant group has long coveted Bama, a fishing and commercial town located about 58km south of Maiduguri, provincial capital of the restive Borno State.
The military, which appears to have stepped up its presence the area, has thwarted earlier Boko Haram attempts to capture the flashpoint town.
Militants attempted to take Bama in 2013 and again in February of this year. Both attempts were thwarted by the army, however, leaving casualties on both sides.
Boko Haram has already overrun the towns of Gamboru Ngala, Dikwa and Gwoza, all in Borno; Buni Yadi in the neighboring Yobe State; and Madagali in Adamawa State.
The group's elusive leader, Abubakar Shekau, recently declared all territories under Boko Haram control to be part of an "Islamic caliphate" in northern Nigeria.
The Nigerian military, for its part, has dismissed Boko Haram's claims, insisting that no part of the country had – or would be – conceded to the militant group.
Since May of last year, the three states – Borno, Yobe and Adamawa – have all remained in a state of emergency imposed by the government with the stated aim of curbing the Boko Haram "menace."
www.aa.com.tr/en
