Boko Haram Camps Bombed

Nigerian ground forces backed by warplanes
on Tuesday battled Islamist Boko Haram
militants in a second day of heavy fighting
around a northeast town, in which the officer
son of former president Olusegun Obasanjo
was wounded, a senior official told Reuters.
Since the weekend, the government of
Africa's biggest economy has sent in
reinforcements to check a push southwards
into northern Adamawa state by Boko
Haram, which has seized towns and territory
in the northeast in recent weeks.
Nigerian air force jets were bombarding the
Islamist group's positions in and around the
town of Michika, the government official,
who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
They were also hitting the militants at
Madagali, Bazza and Uba.
"Reinforcement of troops is ongoing, and I
can tell you the fight is tense," the official in
Abuja said.
Nigeria's defence headquarters has not
provided details of the fighting, despite
repeated requests.
In neighbouring Borno state, where Boko
Haram has seized a string of towns and
villages in an apparent bid to create an
Islamist enclave, Nigeria's army on Monday
blocked the group's advance towards the
state capital, Maiduguri.
Boko Haram: Displaced many people in
Borno State
Former President Obasanjo's son, Lt. Col.
Adebayo Obasanjo, was among soldiers
wounded when the platoon he was leading
was attacked at Bazza near Mubi in Adamawa
state by Boko Haram insurgents on Monday.
He was evacuated to a hospital.
Doyin Okupe, a senior aide to President
Goodluck Jonathan, said on his Twitter
account that Obasanjo had been shot in the
thigh, but was in good spirits.
Twice-president Olusegun Obasanjo, who
stepped down in 2007, has criticised
Jonathan's handling of the Boko Haram
insurgency, especially the government's
failure to move more quickly to rescue more
than 200 northeastern schoolgirls abducted
by the militants in mid-April. They are still
being held.
Boko Haram, whose name means "western
education is sinful" in the local Hausa
language, has killed thousands since 2009,
when it launched an insurgency in the poor
northeast.
Its leader, Abubakar Shekau, last month
declared a "Muslim territory" after capturing
Gwoza near the Cameroon border,
apparently inspired by the example of the
Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq, which
announced the creation of its own, separate
caliphate.
Columns of heavily armed Boko Haram
fighters have overrun several northeast
towns, killing males over 18 and preaching
Islamic rule to the survivors.
In a national vote due in February,
southerner Jonathan is expected to seek re-
election. Many believe political tensions
stemming from the historic rivalry between
Nigeria's mostly Muslim north and largely
Christian south are also stoking the Boko
Haram insurgency.

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