Hundreds of people are fleeing Nigeria's north-east state capital of Maiduguri
as Islamic extremists close in, residents said on Friday. One resident said soldiers have been evacuating their own families from
Maiduguri since Tuesday, the day after the insurgents attacked Bama, the second
largest city in Borno state. Fleeing Bama residents said the attackers warned
that their next target was Maiduguri.
Bodies littered the streets of Bama, where air force jets on Wednesday
blew up the barracks armoury to prevent the rebels from getting the weaponry,
said Hussain Monguno, a leader of the civic Borno-Yobe People's
Forum. Boko
Haram has been
seizing towns and now controls a large swath of the extreme north-east of Africa's most populous country to
form an Islamic caliphate, mimicking Islamic State. It has also begun attacking
villages in neighbouring Cameroon. The
Guardian.
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